question of whether he will hold up physically for the duration of a 7 year deal. Who knows how he will do as he gets older. He could be near perfect fundamentally and do no damage.. Or what little damage he does inflict he might be healing quickly. Maybe his rejuvenation slows down or maybe he tweaks something.

It is just awesome being spoiled with the guy though.. so why bother worrying about it. They will definitely offer him an extension, but heres the problem... he has 4 years left under control. If you give him a 2 year deal he is no longer financially at risk for this year or most of next (he could get hurt and recover and sign for 10m + like sheets - and odds are he won't get hurt that bad).

On top of that you have less leverage if you give him 2yr/30mil now, because he doesn't have to worry about going the next 4 years and maybe "only" making 45mil if reasonably healthy. In that scenario, after the two year extension is up, he will almost surely make another 30 mil the final two years before he hits free agency, whether it be through a second extension or arbitration.

So, really it isn't just the salary number for this year. Lincecum wants the security of extensions without giving up on the annual salary. You can't have it both ways! You have to compromise somewhere. And you can't go back and look at the bad contracts the Giants gave out. Those were mistakes to be learned from. You can't cave in and make that mistake twice and compete long-term.

If Timmy and his agent said, "we plan to be here the next 11 years... lets do:
2yr/25mil
2yr/32mil
7yr/140mil "

The Giants would probably say that if his performance keeps at level or better, OK we can stick to that plan. It's not a contract in stone, but its a framework. A matter of goodwill on both sides, who are trying to gain stability and plan out their successful future (TOGETHER).