LINCECUM OFFERED RECORD $17M, ASKS FOR $21.5M ADVERTISING BY RONALD BLUM | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Tim Lincecum asked San Francisco for $21.5 million in arbitration, just shy of the record for a player, and the Giants offered
LINCECUM OFFERED RECORD $17M, ASKS FOR $21.5M
BY RONALD BLUM | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Tim Lincecum asked San Francisco for $21.5 million in arbitration, just shy of the record for a player, and the Giants offered him a club-record $17 million Tuesday on a dizzying day when 80 players agreed to contracts.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner was among 54 players who exchanged figures with their teams, and his request fell short of the record $22 million requested by Roger Clemens from Houston when he became a free agent and accepted the Astros’ arbitration offer before the 2005 season.
At the exchange of arbitration figures, Lincecum set a mark among players with less than six years in the majors, topping Derek Jeter’s $18.5 million submission in 2001. And the Giants’ offer broke the 11-year-old club mark of $14.25 million offered by the Yankees to Jeter that winter.
“I’m overall optimistic that we’ll find common ground without a hearing room,” Bobby Evans, Giants vice president of baseball operations, said before seeing Lincecum’s filing numbers. “It’s a process that begins long before today in terms of conversations about possible deals that work for both sides. That process has continued in a mutual fashion. At this point we haven’t reached a conclusion.”
Lincecum is eligible for free agency after the 2013 season.
Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, who became a free agent and accepted Boston’s offer of arbitration, had the second-highest request at $16.5 million and was offered $12.65 million by the Red Sox.
Other large amounts involved Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Garza ($12.5 million vs. $7.95 million), Philadelphia outfielder Hunter Pence ($11.8 million vs. $9 million), Texas World Series star Mike Napoli ($11.5 million vs. $8.3 million), Los Angeles Dodgers NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw ($10 million vs. $6.5 million) and Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie ($10.25 million vs. $7.25 million).
Garza’s $4.55 million gap was the largest. All-Star pitchers Chris Perez of Cleveland and Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta submitted the same figures as their teams, a signal a deal already was all but finalized.
Barring agreements, hearings before three-arbitrator panels will be scheduled for the first three weeks of February.
