Milwaukee Brewers will attend Tim Lincecum's showcase, per report

In their ongoing search for starting pitching (or relief pitching, for that matter), the Milwaukee Brewers will attend Tim Lincecum’s exhibition for major league teams as he tries for another go-round at age 33, as reported by Jon Heyman:

Lincecum spent the 2007 through the 2015 seasons with the Giants, earning consecutive All Star appearances from 2008-11. He also won the NL Cy Young Award in 2008 and 2009. He led the National League in strikeouts from 2008 through 2010, and was still striking out more than 9 per nine innings for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

It’s pretty easy to see why Lincecum’s results deteriorated over time. He threw his fastball in the 94 mph range in his first two seasons in the majors (2007 and 08); slipped to 91 to 92 mph in 2009, 10, and 11, and down into the 87-90 mph range in 2012-15, with 2015 his last season with the Giants. His curveball velocity stayed fairly steady over his career, but his slider dipped from 82-86 mph from 2007-13 down to 78-80 mph for the 2014-15 campaigns. Also, he has an impressive 107 wild pitches in his career, having led the league three times in that dubious stat.

After his 2015 season with the Giants, which was actually the best of his final three seasons, Lincecum had hip surgery. He joined the Angels organization for 2016 and was more or less a disaster in his 38.1 innings of work at the major league level, allowing an alarming 2.58 homeruns per nine innings pitched. He walked 5.3 per nine, and worked to a staggering 9.16 ERA (but a MUCH better FIP of 7.16) with a WHIP of 2.374. These are not good numbers, folks. In case you haven’t ever looked at baseball stats before.

Lincecum did not pitch in organized baseball in the 2017 season.

So Lincecum will need to show whatever teams attend his showcase more velocity, at the least. The workout will be hosted by Driveline Baseball, where Lincecum has been working out. He will be 34 in June, so the best to be expected from Thursday’s event would most likely be a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. If the velocity is back in the low 90’s on the fastball, and the mid 80’s on the slider, he might be worth a look. However, if he IS worth a look, it might not be wise to take that look at the Brewers’ AAA affiliate in Colorado Springs.

Best of luck to Tim!

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Reference