The San Francisco Giants agreed to a two-year, $35 million deal with Tim Lincecum earlier this week despite a 4.76 ERA over the past two seasons.
The $17.5 million annual value is the 15th-highest in baseball history for a pitcher.
However, San Francisco assistant general manager Bobby Evans believes the contract was justified.
"The Giants were going to place the qualifying offer ($14.1 million) on Lincecum to assure if he left, they would receive draft-pick compensation. If he stayed, that would be his 2014 salary. If they then offered the tender next year and it had about the same increase ($800,000) that it had between 2012-13, then the Giants could, through this process, have Lincecum for two years at $29 million — not incredibly far off the two-year deal the sides actually reached," writes Joel Sherman.
