The Tim Lincecum comeback became official on Wednesday, as the Texas Rangers announced a one-year contract with the two-time Cy Young winner.
Lincecum last appeared in the majors in 2016, when he made nine starts for the Angels and pitched to a 9.16 ERA over that span. This offseason, Lincecum, 33, ramped up his training efforts with Driveline Baseball and is by all accounts in excellent shape. His deal with Texas was originally delayed by a personal matter -- reportedly the death of his older brother -- but now he's set to begin his comeback with the Rangers.
With the Rangers, Lincecum, who's worn No. 55 for his entire MLB career to date, will now wear No. 44 to honor his late brother, as Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports.
In Texas, Lincecum will work out of the bullpen, general manager Jon Daniels told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Lincecum's made eight career relief appearances during the regular season plus another seven in the playoffs, so the role isn't unfamiliar to him.
In those earlier relief outings, Lincecum's stuff seemed to play up, so this could be a good fit. What will be interesting is to see whether Lincecum's long history as a starter allows him to become a high-volume, multi-inning reliever with the Rangers. Whatever the specifics of his bullpen role, he's not short on motivation to prove he's still capable of getting outs at the big-league level.
Lincecum enters the 2017 season with a career ERA+ of 104 and a K/BB ratio of 2.59 across parts of 10 major-league seasons, nine of which came with the Giants. In addition to those two Cy Young Awards, Lincecum is also a four-time All-Star.
