San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey: Who Will Be Franchise Player?

Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey are two of the most beloved and important members of the San Francisco Giants, both on the current roster and in the team's storied history.

Both have shown the potential to become future Hall-of-Famers, and both have endeared themselves to Giants fans everywhere with their amazing contributions to the team's championship run last year.

But given the financial realities of the professional baseball market today and the all-too-familiar story of the young phenom who leaves the team he came up with as a result of free agency, the Giants may have to make a very difficult decision in the years ahead: Tim Lincecum or Buster Posey?

Lincecum Has Been the Cornerstone of the Franchise

Tim Lincecum was dubbed "The Franchise" before even throwing his first pitch in the big leagues.  He has not only lived up to the nickname, but has done things that even his most loyal fans could never have imagined when he broke in with the Giants in mid-2007.

Two National League Cy Young awards and a World Series ring later, Lincecum is now just entering his prime.  He led the National League in strikeouts in each of his three full seasons in the big leagues and is in contention for more honors in 2011.

He was the first of what has now become an envied line of young stars that have emerged out of the Giants' farm system; the inaugural member of the youth movement in San Francisco baseball that has resulted in unprecedented success for a franchise that until last season was starved for a championship.

He rapidly became the face of the Giants, and gave the team an identity that it desperately needed following the departure under dark clouds by the last star in San Francisco—Barry Bonds.

Lincecum's impact on and for the Giants is impossible to overstate.  He is arguably the most dominant pitcher in all of baseball, and his starts are seen by many as automatic wins for the club.

At almost 27, Lincecum will likely only get better (I know, is that even possible?), which will make the decision on his future all the more difficult for Brian Sabean when free agency gives Lincecum a commanding position from which to negotiate a contract of historic proportions.

Has Posey's Injury Diminished His Potential To Be a Franchise Player?

Buster Posey.

Just the mention of his name evokes a cavalcade of savored memories for Giants fans.  His 21-game hitting streak.  His laser beam throws to second base to nail potential base stealers.  The subsequent shock on the faces of those base runners when they're called out.  The Rookie of the Year award.  The joyful leap of a heretofore stoic catcher whose duty never to show emotion passed into euphoria over a World Championship.

Posey has not only been good for the Giants; as we have increasingly heard all over the country since his horrific injury two weeks ago, he's been good for baseball.

That's because Posey, 24, carries himself with a silent confidence and produces results that observers of the game normally attribute to the wisdom and experience of a veteran.

Posey, like Lincecum, is a baseball prodigy who has the potential to put an indelible mark on the game.

But after suffering a broken leg and several torn ligaments in a home plate collision May 25, the question of whether Posey will be able to live up to his full potential, and further, whether he would be the wise choice as a franchise player, are of legitimate concern.

A Good Problem to Have

The San Francisco Giants are a team with very good young talent.  Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey ascended to the top of the baseball world last season.  They have exceeded all expectations, and even defied most of them, with their ability to excel under the bright lights of Major League Baseball and remain unfazed, even cool, under pressure—despite their youth.

Their confidence in their own abilities, as well as the wealth of experience these two have accumulated in just the short time they have been on the scene, will likely make them candidates for very large free agent contracts when the time comes.

While this poses a problem for the Giants, and possibly an inevitable decision regarding which of their two great stars they ought to sign to a long-term contract as a franchise player, it's always good when the future of your franchise looks as bright as it does in San Francisco.

Wherever Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey end up in the long-term—whether in a Giants uniform or not—they will forever be remembered in the hearts of Giants fans, perhaps with a snapshot in time. 

Though many moments in their young careers could become that mental snapshot for Giants fans, one of the greatest may have occurred on the evening of November 1, 2010, when together they were integral to the culmination of the most important moment in San Francisco Giants history, when they led their team to its first World Championship since moving west from New York in 1958.