Although we seem to write about it every day, the biggest news in baseball at the moment isn't Johnny Damon and where he'll end up, its Tim Lincecum.

While teams like the Minnesota Twins are looking to lock up the face of their franchise, Joe Mauer, the San Francisco Giants aren't in any rush to do anything of the sort with "The Freak."

Three weeks ago we were talking about "Will Lincecum Break the Bank?" with his new arbitration contract. If you haven't heard by now, negotiations between Lincecum and the Giants aren't going well.

The Giants control Lincecum's rights for a three more years and can simply go to arbitration each year or they can try to sign him to a long term deal similar to what the Rays did with Evan Longoria. Apparently though, the Giants aren't convinced is worth the risk.

So what would make the Giants so hesitant to sign the reigning two time NL CY Young winner for the long term? Was it because Lincecum was nailed like Jesus on the cross for smoking marijuana? No, the truth is that they are concerned that little Timmy isn't durable enough to make that kind of commitment.

While Lincecum has never been hurt, it's his size and violent delivery that gives the Giants pause. What's ironic is that this is the very thing that enabled the Giants to get Lincecum in the first place as the Seattle Mariners (right in Lincecum's back yard) and 8 other teams passed on him in the 2006 MLB Draft because they were concerned that he would break down.

For those of you that were around when Pedro Martinez came up for good in 1993 with the LA Dodgers, the issue of size is what determined his fate as well. Lincecum is the exact height and weight that Pedro was then. The Dodgers weren't concerned about Pedro's violent delivery, but they were very concerned about his 5' 11" 160 lbs frame holding up. The Dodgers refused to let him start and made him a reliever. In '93 he Pedro threw 107 innings giving up only striking out 119 batters and pitched to a 2.61 ERA. The following year he was shipped to the Expos for Delino DeShields and the rest is history. To say that didn't work out to well for the Dodgers is an understatement.

Martinez went on to an 18 year career (maybe 19) and for seven years from 1997 through 2003 put up numbers that we haven't seen in MLB since Sandy Koufax. Those numbers were perhaps more impressive given the fact that 6 of the 7 years were put up while pitching in the AL East.

It's been pointed out that Lincecum's average fastball velocity dropped from 94.1-mph in 2008 to 92.4-mph last season. To this I say, who the heck cares?

Tim Lincecum pitched virtually the same amount of innings with virtually the same amount of strikeouts and his ERA went DOWN from 2.62 to 2.48! He pitched better! He's only pitched in three MLB seasons and the guy is still learning how to pitch. You can't penalize a guy for throwing slower and getting more people out. The object isn't to throw it as hard as you can; it's to get people out!

Unless there is a change in management or change in management philosophy, the Giants position is clearly a sign of things to come. The Giants will keep going year to year with little Timmy for three years but you can write it in stone, unless the Giants are in serious contention for a Worlds Championship in 2012 Lincecum will be traded during the 2012 to a team that is willing to sign him to a long term contract with the implied risk that he may break down at any moment because of his size and violent delivery. - Michael Cruise

Mike's family has had SF Giants season tickets since 1958, the Giants inaugural season in San Francisco. Mike is "the biggest SF Giants fan in the nation"

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