5 reasons Tim Lincecum won’t see resurgence with Angels

4. No more Buster Posey

If there is a guy in San Francisco that Tim Lincecum will miss even more than his manager Bruce Bochy, it’s without a doubt his catcher, the legendary Buster Posey. Not only is Posey a force at the plate, he’s a bit of a pitcher whisperer, helping his pitchers out of trouble whenever it’s needed. Over the past three to four seasons, there was perhaps no pitcher that needed Posey’s help more than Lincecum.

A huge reason that Lincecum was able to overcome decreased velocity and lack of control was Posey calming him down and framing pitches. In fact, Posey is among the league’s best, if not the league’s best, at framing pitches. That’s an extremely underrated skill, but Posey takes pride in it and its value to a pitcher like Lincecum is quite high.

With the Angels, Carlos Perez will be framing Lincecum’s pitches, hoping to get favorable calls from the umpires. Perez has shown in a very small sample size that he’s a decent pitch framer, right around league average. However, it’s not even worth comparing him to Posey because Posey is so much better.

Familiarity is a very important thing for pitchers. They are creatures of habit and don’t generally react too well to change. Tim Lincecum was familiar with Posey. Going from Posey to Perez is a change that Lincecum will likely not enjoy.

Next: 3. Welcome to the American League