Rangers sign Tim Lincecum to a 1-year deal

After emerging from the shadows to be the hero baseball needs and hosting a highly anticipated and mysterious pitching showcase, Tim Lincecum has agreed to a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers, as Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported.

Lincecum will reportedly earn $1 million and his deal includes incentives, as one would expect.

When we last left Lincecum, he was making a resurgence with the Angles, struggling to get through an outing. He had parted ways with the Giants after several unsuccessful appearances both starting and out of the bullpen. His time in Los Angeles proved to be no different. Ultimately finishing 2016 with 9.16 ERA over 38.1 innings, he unsurprisingly went unsigned into 2017, as he quietly and painstakingly prepared for his great return to baseball.

This is the part where Lincecum has a rough first start, doubts himself and his comeback abilities, gets a pep talk from a daunting but encouraging figment of his imagination, and then comes in for his second start and shuts out the Astros.

On a realistic, more rooting in reality note, believe it or not the Freak is 33-years old and has not seen a live major league batter for over a year now. Pitching out of the bullpen, or even more so as Texas’ newest closer, aligns much more seamlessly. And as luck (or fate, I’m really banking on fate here) would have it, Rangers’ closer Sam Dyson imploded halfway through last year and found himself finishing 2017 with the Giants. So what does their bullpen look like as of now? With young relief depth like Keone Kela and lefty Alex Claudio, who got the gig after Dyson’s disaster, the Rangers have a strong core going forward. Lincecum has the experience, and now apparently the velo, to be the cornerstone, and everyday closer.

The Dodgers were also interested in the two-time Cy Young award winner, BUT NICE TRY SUCKERS.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the screen printing on the jersey that Tim Linceum will make his cinematic comeback in.