Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants Nearing New Contract

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the San Francisco Giants and Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum are approaching a new two-year contract.  Brown says the Giants offered Lincecum $40 million over two years while Lincecum and his agent countered with $44 million.  Brown believes this gap is close enough for both sides to “get it done”.

Entering the offseason the Giants knew they’d have some work to do when it came to locking up the top of their starting rotation.  Lincecum and rotation-mate Matt Cain were both entering the final few years of their current contracts (Cain a free agent after next season and Lincecum after 2013 season), and San Francisco has expressed interest in retaining their pair of aces.

While Lincecum has said he’d prefer to stick with the Giants, sides remained far apart in contract talks as of late December.  Because they were unable to agree on a long-term deal, the Giants and Lincecum were reportedly focusing on a shorter contract that would allow both sides to table discussions regarding the future for the time being.

It appears that a short-term deal will indeed be the result.  With a gap of only $4 million it seems as if the Giants and Lincecum will be able to reach an agreement before arbitration.

The Giants and Lincecum made arbitration history earlier this week, setting new filing records for players with less than six years of service time.  Lincecum filed for a salary of $21.5 million and the Giants countered with a $17 million offer.

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