question of the day

as posed by d.r.w.: why is tim lincecum's contract figure so low?

the associated press reported that the cy young winner signed a one-year, $650,000 contract with the giants thursday. that's not even double the league minimum.

huh, you might wonder.

it seems that lincecum is probably more concerned about what happens post-2009. as the AP further reports, he is likely to be eligible for arbitration after this season.

read: BIG BUCKS.

if lincecum can post the sort of numbers he did this year, he stands to get a contract that might come close (but surely not all the way) to rivaling that of rotation-mate barry zito. so why not take the easy contract now with a team and pitching coach that he's comfortable with and go for the bigtime in a year?

still, it seems like he could have squeezed a little more out of the giants. is the kid just that nice? or is he pumped about a rotation that now features three cy young winners (lincecum, zito, and randy johnson)?

you may not be excited about lincecum or the giants, but you should sure as hell be excited that it's spring training. baseball is BACK.