Imagine for a moment a Cleveland Indians rotation headlined by C.C.Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Tim Lincecum. That is a rotation that would godown as one for the ages and matchup with the all time great ones ofthe past.
Such a rotation for the Indians was actually possible five years ago.
Back in 2005, the Indians were contending again with a young nucleusled by two young left-handed hurlers headlining the rotation inSabathia and Lee. Both pitchers were far from their true Cy Young formthey would find later on in their careers, but both were still verygood and in the upper percentile of pitchers in the league.
Later that year over the summer the Indians drafted Lincecum in the42nd round of the June Draft, which meant that all three pitchers -arguably three of the top five pitchers in the game today - were underthe Indians' control for a short time in the summer of 2005.
Of course when you flash forward back to 2010, baseball's lack ofparity when it comes to money doomed what could have been for theIndians. Instead of a rotation to build around for a decade, bothSabathia and Lee have since been sent away because of the belief thatthey inevitability could not be resigned. As for Lincecum, he turneddown the Indians offer to sign and went back to school.
But the story behind why Lincecum was not signed, at least from theIndians perspective, has never really been shared. Until now.
Going back five years to the negotiations between the Indians andLincecum, it was really something of a first that baseball hadexperienced with regard to the draft. That is, a player taken in thevery late rounds with extremely high bonus demands getting sincereinterest from a Major League team wanting to sign him.
When you get to the late rounds of the draft teams are usually draftingfor need by picking up signable players to “fill
