News from Scottsdale:
Bochy all but names Lincecum the fifth starter. Vogelsong, Petit in the bullpen.” #sfgiants
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) February 18, 2015
Lincecum pitched six games in relief late last season and was relegated to the bullpen for the playoffs, where he pitched exactly one game. It had been thought that, perhaps, Ryan Vogelsong and Lincecum would compete for the fifth spot, but that competition now appears to be scrapped.
Lincecum is in the second year of a two-year, $35 million deal. You have to figure they want to see if they can’t get a decent starter’s production out of a decent starter’s salary. Or, at the very least, to see if they can’t flip him mid-season as a starter given that in Vogelsong and Yusmiero Petit, they have decent alternatives for the fifth slot.