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In recent weeks, several teams have locked up franchise icons, including the Giants’ Buster Posey, the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright and the Tigers’ Justin Verlander. Without these key players hitting free agency in coming years, teams will have to work with what remains. 

A few players stand to gain tremendously from these signings, but will need to put up good numbers this season if they want to cash in on long-term deals this offseason. Here are my top five free agents in need of a strong 2013 campaign.

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2012 was an abysmal year for San Francisco Giants‘ starting pitcher Tim Lincecum.

The former Giants’ first-round draft selection in 2006 exploded onto the scene in his first full season with San Francisco in 2008 and became a national sensation nearly overnight.

Given monikers like “The Freak” and “The Franchise,” Lincecum lived up to his reputation.  His small stature combined with a violent and torque-heavy delivery amounted to him becoming one of the most dynamic starting pitchers in the league, earning him two consecutive Cy Young awards in 2008 and 2009.

Lincecum was also a key figure in bringing the Giants their first World Series championship in San Francisco in 2010. 

Heralded for his wins in Games 1 and 5, both against perennial All-Star Cliff Lee, the Giants beat the Texas Rangers in five games.  The championship further added to the young pitcher’s reputation as an elite starter.

The year after, Lincecum had some setbacks. 

Posting a 13-14 record, Lincecum seemed to lose his edge. 

Yet, the Giants were struggling to score runs in 2011, and Lincecum still posted a tremendous 2.74 ERA with 220 strikeouts (baseball-reference.com).  In spite of the losing record, there was little concern that Lincecum was going to encounter any serious problems.

Then came 2012.

Yes, the Giants won the World Series again that year. 

However, Lincecum was nowhere near the same pitcher that propelled San Francisco to their first championship.  In 2012, Lincecum suffered his worst career year to date, posting a 10-15 record and an inflated 5.18 ERA.  The total innings pitched were also at 186, down from 217 the year before. 

Subsequently, his strikeouts were also at their lowest over a full season: 190 compared to 220 the year prior (baseball-reference.com).

In addition to his lack of execution, there were concerns about his velocity.  Lincecum’s fastball, which once had a velocity in the mid-90s and above, was peaking around 90 miles per hour. 

True, Lincecum had started using more of his off-speed pitches, which had an effect, but the lack of velocity was significant (espn.go.com). 

Command was also an issue. 

His walks issued per year had steadily been on the rise since 2008.

Lincecum’s ineffectiveness had implications on his role as the Giants entered the postseason.  Giants manager Bruce Bochy moved Lincecum to the bullpen, electing to go with his other starters Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito. 

Lincecum actually thrived in the new role, appearing in six playoff games and not allowing a single run during two World Series relief appearances (baseball-reference.com).

While the championship was a tremendous moment for the Giants, Lincecum had mixed feelings about the role he played.  He stated:

I took it for what it was. It wasn’t a position that I was necessarily 100 percent familiar with, but I just wanted to help the team.  Right now, my perspective isn’t to be in the bullpen.  My perspective is, I want to be a starter and I want to get back to that elite status that I was at. (via cbssports.com)

Indeed, Lincecum’s use should be out of the rotation. 

Last season notwithstanding, Lincecum has been a dominant ace, and there is little reason to assume he cannot reach that point again.  He recognized that he needed to change his approach and regimen going into 2013. 

During the offseason, Lincecum worked out with two personal trainers who pushed him beyond the limits he once utilized in prior offseasons.  Lincecum’s work gained him an extra 10 pounds and forced him to focus more on his mechanics, which were so key to his unique windup (timeheraldonline.com).

In addition to the added weight, Lincecum also chopped off the signature locks of hair that defined him for the last few seasons.

As the Giants move forward into spring training, Lincecum has not quite shown that the offseason work has been effective.  His recent start against the Padres on March 13 resulted in only 2 1/3 innings pitched while allowing 3 runs on four hits (miamiherald.com).  His previous start provided similar results.

True, Lincecum has been dealing with a blister on his pitching hand.  He also is not known for being dominant during spring outings, usually finding his rhythm at the beginning of the regular season. 

Instead, Lincecum was optimistic about the outing.

After the game, Lincecum critiqued his start:

Getting that time off and then going out there for another inning, being able to get up and down was probably the biggest issue.  I had some changeups at times, but every pitch really could have been better. I’m pleased all around with the way things went besides the result. (via miamiherald.com)

San Francisco, so reliant on its starting pitching, wants him to return to the “elite” status he once claimed before 2012.  However, the Giants also boast other top-tier starters. 

Both Lincecum and San Francisco are going to be paying close attention to how he performs in 2013, and not just because both parties want to win.

Lincecum is set to be a free agent after the 2013 season. 

He is making $22 million this year, and if his 2012 struggles repeat themselves, the Giants may very well be inclined to spend that money somewhere else.  They have to consider contracts for MVP Buster Posey and fan-favorite Pablo Sandoval in the near future as well.

Fortunately for Lincecum and the Giants, all signs point to Lincecum taking 2013 very seriously and professionally.  He has a new look, a tougher workout regimen and a renewed confidence:

I feel every year transitions into its own year.  I’m taking every year differently and approaching this one with a fresh slate.  Last year, I had a lot of questions.  I was trying to change a lot things at once.  Getting my mind back to a stable point where I know what I’m doing and I know why I’m doing it, I feel like my confidence is back. (via cbslocal.com)

Those are great words indeed.  Yet Lincecum needs to be able to translate those words and feelings into his performance on the mound.  If he can, both Lincecum and the Giants’ prospects for returning to the World Series are that much better.

If not, fans may see him wearing another uniform.

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The Toronto Blue Jays have done a tremendous job remodeling their team into a playoff contender during the offseason.

No. Make that a World Series contender.

I may be getting a little ahead of myself, but the odds makers in Las Vegas have them pegged as the clear favorites.

What’s even more impressive: Almost every major player they have acquired this season is set to wear a Blue Jays uniform for at least a few years, except starting pitcher Josh Johnson. Johnson will make $13.75 million this season as his four-year contract comes to an end (originally signed by the Miami Marlins).

While Johnson will not be the “Ace” or opening day starter for the Blue Jays, he will play a vital role in the Jays success or failures this season.

But you have to wonder if Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos wants to dish out the money to have him as a staple in the rotation for another couple of years, or if will he let him walk at the end of 2013.

Beyond this year, the Jays will have R.A. Dickey, Mark Bheurle, Brandon Morrow and Rickey Romero still in their rotation. Adding Johnson makes that one of the best—if not the best—in baseball. But  how much do the Blue Jays lose by taking him away?

I think that depends on who you  replace him with. There are plenty of options available to the Blue Jays in 2014.

Personally, while I think having him in the rotation will be amazing and fun to watch every fifth day, I don’t think future success beyond this year warrants giving him a Felix Hernandez-type contract. And while I don’t think Johnson will be able to get that kind of money ($175 million over 7 years) from anyone, there’s reason to believe he can get a hefty payday by testing the free-agent waters.

If the Blue Jays are willing to spend money and looking at locking up a guy long term they can always resign Johnson. The players expected to hit the free agent market provide some intrigue.

• Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum: This is the same Lincecum the Jays could have had if they parted with Alex Rios in the infamous trade that wasn’t. How does that look now, J.P. Ricciardi?  While Lincecum was banished to the bullpen last year, I think that he has too much raw talent to not bounce back and be a very good starter once again. If he has another bad year, do the Jays look at getting him—hopefully, cheaper—than any other two-time Cy Young winner?

• Matt Garza and Ubaldo Jimenez: I link the two together because they are both pieces that wouldn’t bring to the table what Johnson brings, but would get the job done on the back end. If Rickey Romero bounces back to his 2011 form, do the Jays need a Josh Johnson, or would they prefer a Garza or Jimenez? I don’t think they would command anywhere near the same kind of money that Johnson would, even if both Garza and Jimenez have good years. They are steady veterans that give you a chance to win.

• Roy Halladay: Potentially, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher could hit the market. While Doc has stated he wants to finish his career in Philadelphia with the Phillies, I think it would be a pretty classy move to bring him back to Toronto for a couple of years to be another veteran arm in a formidable rotation.

We also can’t forget about in-house options the Blue Jays have—all those guys on the farm that were looking at being possible hopefuls for this year’s rotation before AA’s wheeling and dealing. There are guys that will start at Triple AAA, Double AA or the disabled list that would have been given an extra look, and opportunity to make the big league club in April of 2013.

But because there are a number of veterans poised to slot into the rotation, this list of candidates gets some extra time to develop their game on the farm and, barring any injury, will stay there for the whole year and compete for that supposedly vacant spot in 2014.

• Chad Jenkins made his debut last year with the Jays. He posted a 1-3 record with a 4.50 ERA in 13 games, including three starts. Jenkins showed some promise last year, and would be most likely to be called up first in the event of an injury. Either he or J.A. Happ would get the chance to start, and I thought deserved a chance to start before the moves were made. I don’t think he figures into the team’s long term success, though, so he may not be an option to replace Johnson.

• Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchinson are coming off Tommy John surgery and will get an entire year and off-season to regain their arm strength. Both will be looking to find a spot on the big league roster when they return, and both have a legitimate case to make. Drabek was starting to mold into the pitcher the Blue Jays hoped he would be when they traded Halladay to get him. He was 4-7 with a 4.67 ERA and a WHIP of 1.60, and improving with every start. The 23-year-old Hutchinson was called up to the big league roster almost out of necessity after the first week or so into the season. In 11 starts, he went 5-3 with an ERA of 4.60 and 1.35 WHIP. He will be 23 this year and will hope to bounce back from a tough injury at a young age. TThese guys are probably the cheapest low risk/high reward options for the Jays in 2014.

Other names you can throw out there include Dustin McGowan, Aaron Sanchez, Roberto Osuna, Daniel Norris, Marcus Stroman, Deck McGuire and Adonys Cardona. With the exception of McGowan, it may be too soon to bring them up, but you never know how they may develop over the course of 2013.

But should injuries occur to the starting 5, some of these names may get a big league debut this season, and an extended look heading into 2014. As for McGowan, if he ever gets a lucky break and finds that his arm allows him to compete, I think the Jays will give him every chance to make the rotation.

It has happened a few times in the past where athletes perform at their best level when on their final contract year (A.J. Burnett for example threw 200 innings  went 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA and opted out, as his contract allowed after year three, his best season).

If Johnson looks like he is leaning towards cashing in on a big pay day on the market, then let him go out there and show the whole league why he deserves that money.

It’s debatable whether Johnson wants to pursue free agency. Shi Davedi  writes  in a recent article that free agency doesn’t really appeal to Johnson. While it could be something his agent told him to say, It could be true and he may want to be with the Jays for a lengthy period of time.

The Jays have a handful of options. I don’t think signing Johnson long term is an immediate need for this team.

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For the second time in three years, the San Francisco Giants will enter spring training with the feeling of being World Series champions. 

However, there are still some questions that need to be answered and some concerns about the defending champions.

Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence were among the players who struggled last year, and while they both stepped up in the playoffs to help the Giants win the World Series, both have a lot to prove in 2013. While the Giants didn’t make any major offseason moves, they gave out a lot of minor-league deals.

What does that mean? Every player who received one of those miniature contracts has a lot to prove in spring training.

Here are four battles within the team to watch for in 2013.

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Pitchers and catchers report to San Francisco Giants spring training on Tuesday, and they’ll have a much different Tim Lincecum upon arrival. The Giants ace put on some pounds and got a haircut, shaving off his long trademark locks and opting for a more clean-cut look.

Will the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner be better this year after going just 10-15 and posting a 5.18 ERA in 33 starts in 2012?

Chances are he will be because of the great success he has achieved in years past. It won’t be because of any haircut, though, and it won’t come easy.

Lincecum is on a mission after being relegated to the bullpen during the Giants’ World Series run just one season ago. “The Freak” appears focused and ready to get to work, not wanting to return to the bullpen again this season.

“In the years past I kind of used spring as work, just to get my work in, and if things go south, no big deal,” Lincecum said, according to Matt Wilhalme of the Los Angeles Times. “But now it’s like I’ve got to prove myself. That game is just the same as it is when we’re playing during the season.”

Proving himself in the spring is unknown territory for the former uncontested top pitcher in baseball. It’s something that came naturally since he exploded onto the baseball landscape in 2008.

At the same time, it may be just what he needs to focus and get himself back in the mindset to tackle a full 162-game season with the tenacity and dominance of years past.

In addition to chopping off his locks, Lincecum has added some weight during the offseason, as Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com reported (via Twitter):

Lincecum said he’s gained 8 lbs, to 170, which is what Giants wanted. (Minus weight of hair as well.) Did lots of resistance training.

— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) February 8, 2013

Adding weight and getting his mind right are positive steps in the right direction and will show immediate returns for the right-hander.

If Lincecum can continue that momentum throughout camp and into Opening Day, there is no reason to think he’ll be anything other than a top-of-the-rotation starter for the Giants this season.

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Tim Lincecum met with the media Friday for the first time this offseason and he sounds like a man on a mission. Lincecum is going to bounce back in a big way for the San Francisco Giants in 2013. 

Lincecum not only has a spiffy new haircut, but his body has changed as well. After dropping 30 pounds last winter, he’s back up to 170 pounds via a new offseason strength training regimen. 

Time will tell if the offseason conditioning has had any effect on his declining fastball velocity. The increased weight Lincecum carried in 2011 helped him bump his fastball up to 92.3 mmph from an average of 91.3 mph the season before. After shedding weight last winter, his fastball averaged only 90.4 mph in 2012.

Yet velocity is not the most significant factor for Lincecum. Even with the velocity drop last season, he still managed to induce hitters to swing and miss over 11 percent of the time, which is right in line with where he was during his two Cy Young campaigns. He has a deceptive delivery and good enough off-speed stuff to get strikeouts without needing to rely on top-of-the-line velocity.

The biggest problem facing Lincecum is not velocity, but command. When Lincecum got ahead in the count with a first pitch strike last season, opponents hit only .220/.270/.373 off of him. When he fell behind in the count, opponents blasted him, hitting .298/.428/.493. Despite throwing a full-season career low of 186 innings last year, Lincecum walked a career-high 90 batters. 

The key for Lincecum in commanding the ball and throwing quality strikes within the zone to set up his disappearing changeup is in the delivery.

General manager Brian Sabean summed up the main issue with Lincecum last October. He told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:

This is more of a function of willing to accept the delivery he’s going to use to be a successful pitcher…A lot of it is the delivery. The better the delivery, the better the arm action, the better the ability to make quality pitches with pitch to pitch control.

Lincecum spoke about the improvements he’s made to his delivery on Friday (via Andrew Baggarly, CSNBayArea.com):

Just trying to get my body into more of a explosive and dynamic motion, that I had before, where I was getting down the mound, following through over that front leg…I feel like mechanics were a big issue with it and I feel like my lack of strength led to that…Last year I didn’t feel like I was landing on my front foot very well, and I felt like I wasn’t even following through well. With that, the more stable my body is, the more I’ll be able to uphold my mechanics…I feel like my lower half is below me now and I’m not trying to create too much with my upper half, which is not creating an out-of-whack motion. It’s more just in sync and on time.

Will Carroll wrote an excellent article about Lincecum’s mechanical issues last month. In that article, Carroll quoted Baltimore Orioles pitching coordinator Rick Peterson on some of the same issues Lincecum discussed on Friday, notably sync and timing. Carroll wrote:

According to Rick Peterson…the sync between landing with the front foot and having the ball in the ‘high ready position’ is imperative. “If there is one thing I can explain, it’s that this is black or white, proper or improper,” said Peterson, in an interview with Bleacher Report. “Even an amateur can see this once they know what to look for. The arm needs to be up at the time the front foot lands.”

From watching Lincecum last season, it appeared that he had a hard time getting the ball in that high and ready position when his front foot landed. His late timing with his arm prevented him from driving the ball downhill, so he continually made mistakes up in the zone.

Hitters were certainly able to take advantage of Lincecum’s mistakes last year. After hitting only .222/.302/.344 with 15 home runs off of him in 2011, they hit .257/.341/.426 with 23 home runs against him last year.

His regular season was a disappointment, but he managed to salvage his season by converting into a dominant reliever during the postseason to help propel the Giants to another championship.

That wasn’t the first time that he overcame adversity to help the Giants win it all. In August of 2010, he went 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA. He bounced back to put up a 1.94 ERA in September to help the Giants win the NL West, and then he went 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA in the postseason to carry the Giants to the World Series title.

Lincecum has bounced back from his struggles before, and he’s going to bounce back again in 2013 as long as he can find a consistent delivery. Lincecum sounds confident that he’s going to get back to being one of the game’s elite pitchers (via Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com):

My perspective is, I want to be a starter and I want to get back to that elite status that I was at…Last year I had a lot of questions. I was trying to change a lot things at once. Getting my mind back to a stable point where I know what I’m doing and I know why I’m doing it, I feel like my confidence is back.

That’s good news for the Giants, and bad news for the rest of the league.

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After keeping the core of their championship team together by re-signing free agents Jeremy Affeldt, Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro, the latest rumors pertaining to the San Francisco Giants mostly surround the periphery of the roster.

For example, the Giants were rumored to be interested in backup outfielder Endy Chavez before he agreed to a minor league deal elsewhere on Monday.

Before missing out on Chavez, the Giants were busy building the depth of their roster by signing free agent outfielder Andres Torres to a major league deal, claiming reliever Sandy Rosario off of waivers and agreeing to minor league contracts with catcher Guillermo Quiroz, infielder Wilson Valdez and reliever Chad Gaudin.

With the big transactions of the winter already taken care of, the Giants will spend the rest of the offseason continuing to build up the bench and bullpen.

The biggest questions that remain are whether the club will re-sign Brian Wilson, trade Tim Lincecum and extend the contracts of Buster Posey and Sergio Romo.

The latest news on Wilson courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman is that the team was not close to a deal with the bearded closer. Wilson was reportedly unhappy with the team’s decision to not tender him a contract last month.

Had the Giants tendered Wilson, he likely would have made close to the $8.5 million salary that he earned last season when he made just two appearances before going under the knife for a second Tommy John procedure on his elbow.

Given Wilson’s unhappiness with the club’s decision to non-tender him, I would sell on the rumors of him coming back to the Giants. The Giants want him back but are near their budget ceiling at this point in the winter. Most free agents go to the highest bidder, and it’s hard to envision the Giants outbidding other suitors for Wilson—particularly given his public frustration with the organization. 

Nick Carardo of the Boston Globe wrote that Lincecum was available in a trade earlier this winter, but general manager Brian Sabean put that speculation to rest almost as soon as it began.

While it’s possible that Sabean would still entertain trade offers for Lincecum even after telling the media he had no intention of making a deal, he likely would have been more active in finding a replacement this winter.

With free agents Zack Greinke, Anibal Sanchez, Ryan Dempster, Brandon McCarthy and Edwin Jackson off the market, the Giants would have a hard time replacing Lincecum if they dealt him, unless they got a big-league ready arm in return for him. 

With Sabean shooting down rumors of a Lincecum deal earlier this winter and the Giants not active in the free agent pitching market, I would bet the farm on him being in the Giants rotation in 2013. Even with Lincecum in the fold, the Giants remain short on starting pitching depth outside of the five returning starters in the big league rotation. 

This late in the winter, not many teams have the money available to acquire a pitcher making $22 million—especially one coming off the worst season of his career. The better question isn’t whether or not Lincecum will be in the Giants rotation, but which version of Lincecum will show up in 2013?

John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Giants were open to the idea of a contract extension for Buster Posey. Posey is in a similar situation to the one Lincecum was in after the 2009 season.

Lincecum was eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, and normally the advantage is with the team in arbitration hearings. However, because Lincecum had two Cy Young awards on his resume, he had the leverage. The Giants ultimately agreed to buy out two years of arbitration with a $23 million contract extension.

Posey has a batting title, MVP award, Rookie of the Year award and two World Series titles on his resume. The Giants will control him through arbitration for the next four years regardless, but a contract extension to provide cost certainty and buy out some free agent years would make a lot of sense.

I would buy the rumors of a contract extension for Posey, and I would also expect the team to extend Sergio Romo—who is also eligible for salary arbitration. The three-year contract extension the Giants recently gave to Santiago Casilla would be a reasonable deal for Romo.

The Giants are done making big splashes this winter, which means Lincecum will almost certainly be in the rotation when spring training rolls around. The Giants might want Wilson back in the bullpen, but my guess is that he will stick to his word and move on.

The smart money is on multi-year contract extensions for Posey and Romo, the two most critical members of the team eligible for salary arbitration.

The theme of the offseason has been stability, and I would bet on that continuing with contract extensions for two integral members of the 2010 and 2012 championship teams.

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The Hot Stove is beginning to burn, and one log for the fire may be San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum.

The Freaky Franchise really did have quite the bizarre campaign in 2012. His velocity was down, and his control was erratic.

Through it all, his consistency issues have him as possible trade bait headed into the 2012 offseason. It seems unthinkable, but the Giants could very well see their two-time Cy Young winner head to another team.

His issues may see him take a pay cut, but his past accomplishments may very well keep him in the Bay Area. Let’s debate both sides.

Join MLB Lead Writer Ian Casselberry and MLB Contributor Gabe Zaldivar as they dissect one of the bigger conundrums facing the World Series champs.

As always, we look forward to hearing your side of the argument in the comments section below.

Follow Ian on Twitter @iancass

Follow Gabe on Twitter @gabezal

Be sure to sound off and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you like what you see, click here for more from Bleacher Report Productions. 

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ESPN used to run a commercial featuring a young couple having cutesy time on the couch. As unsavory as that image was to a sports fan just wanting to watch game highlights, the visual turned absolutely repugnant once the camera zoomed out to reveal the guy was wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt, while the girl was sporting her Michigan threads.

Just thinking about it makes you uncomfortable, right?

Now imagine a Giants fan and a Dodgers fan embracing on the couch, making out and whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ear. I don’t know about you, but I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Well, that is because the two fanbases don’t get along. In fact, they downright hate each other. They hate each other’s teams, their team colors, their hometowns and their regional vernacular. They even hate the air the other side breathes (with good reason, at least for Giants fans—LA air is filthy).

And it doesn’t help that the players in opposite dugouts hate each other, too, carrying on a rivalry that extends back to the New York days for both franchises.

The list of reasons why the two sides hate each other is seemingly endless, but here we’ll just look at five of the reasons Giants fans hate Dodgers fans so much.

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Tim Lincecum went through the worst season of his career in 2012, losing 15 games with a 5.18 ERA.

And, once he struggled and got the loss in a start in Game 4 of the NLCS, that was it for him starting. But luckily, the former ace and two-time Cy Young winner has found some success…out of the bullpen.

Out of the bullpen, Lincecum has allowed one run in 10 and two-thirds innings. He came in during Game 1 of the World Series with two on and two out in the sixth inning, and he struck out Jhonny Peralta. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced, twirling two and one-thirds perfect innings.

Lincecum was perfect, as he commanded his change-up and used his slider more freely, not worrying about the potential risk of getting tired from overuse of the pitch later in the game. He is now throwing everything he has at each batter, knowing that it’s unlikely he’ll face the same hitter twice in the same game.

The two-time Cy Young winner is 1-0 with an 0.84 ERA in the postseason (out of the bullpen,) and not including the time he came in during the third inning of a 2008 game because of rain, Lincecum has a career ERA of 0.82 in the bullpen.

Maybe he doesn’t like it there as much, but the reality is that he gets to pitch in more games. The Giants crowd roars when Lincecum and his long hair trot from the dugout to the bullpen mound. It’s happened four times at AT&T Park and twice on the road.

Lincecum’s ability to throw a lot of pitches on short rest will really help, and he can be counted on to chew up innings. If he continues to succeed, he could be a late-inning reliever or an inning-eater, providing decent relief for a whole season.

You may ask about who would replace him in the rotation, and I’ve got an answer. San Francisco has some money to spend, and it could use it on Kyle Lohse, James Shields or even Zack Greinke. The only challenge then would be assembling the rotation.

Ryan Vogelsong has a 1.42 postseason ERA, and he compiled a 3.37 ERA and 14-9 record in 2012 despite a rare rough patch. Madison Bumgarner went 16-11 with the same ERA, Zito went 15-8, and Cain compiled a 2.80 ERA and a 16-5 record.

So it’s safe to say the rotation wouldn’t have problems. Lincecum has had some struggles in the rotation, although he is perfectly capable of going deep into a game there. Bad luck played a part in Lincecum’s 5.18 ERA, and he also had some trouble pitching to Buster Posey. In fact, backup catcher Hector Sanchez became Lincecum’s battery mate, with Posey moving to first base. 

Some may argue that the lack of chemistry between Posey and Lincecum would be a cause for concern, since three of the other four starters always pitch to Posey (and Zito pitches to him sometimes). But out of the bullpen, Lincecum has pitched 6.1 scoreless innings to Posey, his 2010 postseason battery mate.

He has done well pitching to Sanchez, too. Sanchez caught 4.1 innings of one-run ball from Lincecum in Game 4 of the NLDS, which was a relief appearance. So, there is no way that Lincecum will shy away from a catcher and force Posey to leave a game because he is unwilling to pitch to him (Posey).

Lincecum won’t shy away from anything, and he has done a great job accepting his role, avoiding sulking and finding some success. You could argue that Lincecum’s bullpen relief is the reason that the Giants are still playing, since he got the win in Game 4 of the NLDS, another elimination game, while saving his fellow relievers for Game 5.

That could happen again in the regular season, and there’s a good chance of it. But first, manager Bruce Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean have to put Lincecum in the bullpen.

And no, that’s not a punishment. I’ve been preaching Lincecum’s second -and past success for what seems like forever, and I’m still a huge fan of him. I was shocked when he was excluded from the NLDS rotation, only to watch him go 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in the NLDS.

Then, I realized having Lincecum in the tool shed for almost 162 games every year would be better than having him start 30-35 games. He can send the crowd into a frenzy just by jogging to the bullpen, which is very valuable. He can be one of those pitchers who realize throwing their best stuff at a team for a short period of time can really help, without the risk of facing the hitter again.

I don’t expect this to happen, and I think he can build on his World Series and postseason success to regain his form in the rotation. His confidence will be there, and you can expect Lincecum to go through some rigorous offseason workouts to ensure success in 2013. But there is a good argument that Lincecum can be replaced in the rotation and be used as a key reliever, and that he can fill in in the case of an injury.

Because now, he has experience pitching in the rotation and the bullpen. He’s got confidence in his stuff out of the bullpen, and he can definitely succeed in either role.

But if Lincecum is in the bullpen, and the Giants find a decent replacement, the rotation will retain its elite status and the bullpen will fall into the category of elite. 

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