Angels Won’t Recall Tim Lincecum, Johnny Giavotella
By Jeff Todd | September 7, 2016 at 1:31pm CDT
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The Angels do not plan to bring veteran righty Tim Lincecum back to the majors this year, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (Twitter link). The same holds true for infielder Johnny Giavotella, he tweeted himself.
Hopes were high in some quarters when Lincecum, the two-time former Cy Young winner, ramped up for action in 2016. After undergoing hip surgery in the offseason, he held a heavily-covered workout and ultimately joined the Angels under a contract that paid him a pro-rated portion of a $2.5MM salary.
Things didn’t go quite as hoped. Lincecum had been pitching at Triple-A after accepting an outright assignment about a month ago, which resulted after the 32-year-old ran up a ghastly 9.16 ERA and lasted only 38 1/3 innings over nine starts.
The results were better at Triple-A, as Lincecum pitched an identical number of frames in seven outings. He ends his time in Salt Lake City with a 3.76 ERA and 8.7 K/9 with 3.3 BB/9. Still, the overall showing wasn’t enough to claim back a 40-man spot, and Lincecum figures to be looking at a minor league deal this winter.
As for Giavotella, 29, he also ended up in Triple-A after struggling through his major league work. Over 367 plate appearances in the majors, he put up a .260/.287/.376 batting line. It’s a bit of a surprise at first glance that Giavotella won’t be back, given his prominent role over the last two seasons, but he had already been trimmed from the 40-man. Certainly, at this point, it seems rather likely that the Halos will not tender him a contract for 2017 — Giavotella’s first season of arb eligibility.
really stupid, i mean how much worse can they be? giavotella was actually producing.