Barry Zito is awful..... what happen?

[Tyler Durden]

2008 Season Stats

SPLITS	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	W	L	P/GS	WHIP	BAA	ERA
Season	6	6	0	0	28.2	41	30	24	4	15	11	0	6	90.0	1.95	.336	7.53

[Ruby2]

I feel bad for the guy. But that 100+ mil has got to be comforting. OMG though if i was a San Fran fan, o boy.

Theres talk of him going to the bull pen.

[Ven0m]

He messed with his mechanics and his Fastball rivals that of El Duque recently. If the Giants ate enough money, I'd still gamble on him that Rick Peterson could "fix" him enough to make it a worthwhile gamble.

[Tyler Durden]

Originally Posted by Ven0m

He messed with his mechanics and his Fastball rivals that of El Duque recently. If the Giants ate enough money, I'd still gamble on him that Rick Peterson could "fix" him enough to make it a worthwhile gamble.

Kinda like how he fixed Zambrano?

[Ven0m]

Originally Posted by Sean Ryan

Kinda like how he fixed Zambrano?

I was thinking more like John Maine...or Oliver Perez...or the progress Pelfrey has been showing....or getting anything out of Nelson Figueroa....

[chad101]

Tougher league.

[Tyler Durden]

Originally Posted by Ven0m

I was thinking more like John Maine...or Oliver Perez...or the progress Pelfrey has been showing....or getting anything out of Nelson Figueroa....

People overrate pitching coaches. Especially your boy Rick Peterson. He gets all the credit when his pitchers do well, and none when they do bad.

[sdJETSetter]

I have a feeling his 83mph fastball is to blame.
Hard to pitch around that.

[Jets Voice of Reason]

Originally Posted by chad101

Tougher league.

Well that's a first.

[Ruby2]

Originally Posted by chad101

Tougher league.

lol, way to bait the AL folks here

[Tyler Durden]

Originally Posted by Ruby2

lol, way to bait the AL folks here

chad= baseball forum troll

[Ven0m]

Originally Posted by Sean Ryan

People overrate pitching coaches. Especially your boy Rick Peterson. He gets all the credit when his pitchers do well, and none when they do bad.

You can't fix every piece of crap handed to you, expecting that much would simply be unrealistic. I'll admit there are just as many Chan Ho Park's as there are Darren Oliver's, as many Victor Zambrano's as there are John Maine's, but his success rate with these reclamation type projects is well above average and a real asset to the Mets as they are able to get production for bargain basement prices.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

There is no reason for the Mets to try and fix Barry Zito, his contract is insane he has to pitch like 200 innings with 20 wins and an era below 3 to make it worth it. Its not happening and the major cost of playing him (and having to deal with all the issues of trying to get him back on track, namely terrible outings) is a waste.

[JeffWeaverFan]

Originally Posted by Ven0m

He messed with his mechanics and his Fastball rivals that of El Duque recently. If the Giants ate enough money, I'd still gamble on him that Rick Peterson could "fix" him enough to make it a worthwhile gamble.

What is "enough money" out of curiosity?

[Ven0m]

Originally Posted by JeffWeaverFan

What is "enough money" out of curiosity?

Alot, at least half of the contract, each bad outing he makes it gets closer and closer to 2/3.

[JeffWeaverFan]

Originally Posted by Ven0m

Alot, at least half of the contract, each bad outing he makes it gets closer and closer to 2/3.

Lets see. After this year the contract is a 5/$94.5M contract. There is also an $18M team option that becomes guaranteed if Zito throws 200 innings in 2013 or 400 innings from 2012-2013 or 600 innings from 2011-2013. If he continues to pitch horribly, you would have to think he wouldn't get the 200 innings, and if that's the case, there's another $3.5M buyout that has to be paid.

So pretty much, it's a 5/$98M contract after this year plus about $9M for whats rest of this year.

Giants go to the Mets and offer Zito plus $55M for a bag of peanuts. Would you accept? You'd be on the hook for 5 years and about $50M after this season. I think the Giants would love to make that deal.

[Ven0m]

Originally Posted by JeffWeaverFan

Lets see. After this year the contract is a 5/$94.5M contract. There is also an $18M team option that becomes guaranteed if Zito throws 200 innings in 2013 or 400 innings from 2012-2013 or 600 innings from 2011-2013. If he continues to pitch horribly, you would have to think he wouldn't get the 200 innings, and if that's the case, there's another $3.5M buyout that has to be paid.

So pretty much, it's a 5/$98M contract after this year plus about $9M for whats rest of this year.

Giants go to the Mets and offer Zito plus $55M for a bag of peanuts. Would you accept? You'd be on the hook for 5 years and about $50M after this season. I think the Giants would love to make that deal.

That's right about in line with the Mike Hampton deal a while back, where the Braves were paying 48.5 million over 6 years and the Marlins/Rockies are combining to eat the rest of it (55 mil, including his deferred signing bonus and buying out his 2009 option).

With that said, I'm sending Rick Peterson tape of every start he's made in a Giants uniform and asking him if he can "fix" him, at least to the point where he's back to being a quality middle of the rotation option. If he says yes, I'd pull the trigger.

It's an expensive gamble, but I like the potential upside, as I believe that somewhere there's the Mid 3 ERA pitcher inside him still, even if the Cy Young winner is dead.

[IM3]

I still don't believe what happened to the guy. He's Jamie Moyer out there without any control at all. I wonder what Peterson is thinking when he watches any of his starts right now. I'd think he's worth a shot if the Giants picked up 60% of the tab.

[sjjetfan]

Originally Posted by JeffWeaverFan

Giants go to the Mets and offer Zito plus $55M for a bag of peanuts. Would you accept? You'd be on the hook for 5 years and about $50M after this season. I think the Giants would love to make that deal.

No way the Mets could do that. Upside or not does Zito get 10M per if he hits FA tommorrow. No way.

[ChadLover]

Most expensive middle reliever ever?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giants-zito

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Barry Zito was demoted to the bullpen Monday by the San Francisco Giants, who hope the former ace can correct his problems by working in relief.

Zito, who only 16 months ago signed a $126 million, seven-year contract with the Giants to lead their rotation, was informed of the move in a meeting with manager Bruce Bochy.