Late Thursday night, while the vast majority of the East Coast is sleeping, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum will take the mound for his final start of the season.

It might be the last in his San Francisco Giants career.

Lincecum, who rejected a long term deal with the San Francisco Giants in the past as he ‘prefers shorter deals’ will be hitting free agency for the first time in his career, assuming he and the Giants don’t come to terms during their exclusive five day period after the World Series.

An agreement during that period isn’t expected, especially with Lincecum still believing he commands a hefty salary despite his dip in play. Lincecum also said he didn’t want this to happen – he didn’t want to become a free agent, but now that it’s likely to happen, he’ll do what he has to do:

“I wasn’t trying to get to this day. I wasn’t trying to get to free agency,” Lincecum said. “But in light of it, I’m going to try to take it for what it is and experience it and see what it has to offer. I can’t knock anything off the table that I haven’t seen on the table yet.”

A return to San Francisco certainly isn’t out of the question, but it’s sounding as if the price would need to be right:

On whether he’d make the Giants his priority, he said, “I’ve always said I’d like to see the relationship go further. But until I know what’s on the table, I can’t really dismiss anything else. I try to take advice from my agent and do something that’s going to make me happy as well.”

The Giants are expected to offer Lincecum a tender, which would net them a first round draft pick if he was to sign elsewhere.