Tim Lincecum
The San Francisco Giants
are known as one of the best pitching teams in the majors. They have a great
starting rotation and the bullpen is better than average. However they do have
a small Achilles heel and his name is Tim Lincecum. The long haired pitcher has
seen his win total drop every season since 2008 and his ERA hit a record high
5.18 last season. This is not good news for 2013 fantasy baseball because at
this point in his career Lincecum should be trending upward when the exact
opposite is actually happening. This may seem obvious to anyone who’s watched
Lincecum play over the past two or three years but it deserves to be said
again; he’s never going to live up to his massive potential. He’s never going
to be the big time player we all thought he would be but that doesn’t mean he’s
useless in 2013 fantasy baseball.
On the contrary he’s actually a decent third pitcher in a 2013 fantasy baseball rotation. However he’s got a name that people recognize and that means he’ll get drafted ahead of where he should go. Lincecum may not have the talent to back that up but he’s going to get plenty of attention from the less knowledgeable owners in your 2013 fantasy baseball draft. They will invariably draft him two to three rounds before he should go. So really Lincecum is a good barometer for the relative skill of your opponents this year. If he goes in the sixth round of your fantasy draft you ought to have a pretty good time out-manoeuvring your opponents in the draft. However if he drops to the eighth round you’re in a pretty smart league full of discerning owners. Lincecum is of more use to you as a litmus test for the quality of your league than he is as a player.