Cy Young winner whittles down drug charges in Clark County
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum has successfully pleaded down drug charges to a civil infraction in a Clark County court.
Lincecum appeared in a Clark County District Court Tuesday morning.
As part of Lincecum's plea agreement, the civil infractions will carry with them a fine of $513, according to coverage from The Columbian, a KATU news partner. In addition, the baseball player was ordered to pay for a corresponding speeding ticket.
The original charges stemmed from an Oct. 30 traffic stop, about four miles north of the Oregon border. A Washington State Patrol officer pulled Lincecum over for speeding, then reported smelling marijuana as the pitcher rolled down his window.
Washington State Patrol spokesman Steve Schatzel said Lincecum immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car's center console.
Lincecum has won the last two Cy Young Awards for the National League, an award that goes to the top pitcher in this professional baseball league.
Lincecum is a graduate of Liberty Senior High School in Renton, Wash. He later attended the University of Washington, where he won several awards as the team's starting pitcher.
In the 2006 Major League Baseball draft, he was the No. 10 selection overall and the first player of the University of Washington to be selected in the first round of the draft.
Lincecum also is headed to professional baseball salary arbitration and could receive a substantial raise from his current salary with the San Francisco Giants. His major league record over the past two seasons is 33 to 12 – making him what was seen as a bargain at $650,000 in 2009.
Eligible for arbitration for the first time as a so-called "Super 2," which is a player in the top 17 percent of service time between two and three seasons, sports insiders estimated he could receive well over $10 million in years to come.