Zito's Giant Deal

After just saying how GMs around the league need to take a step back and re-evaluate the situations they've made for themselves, surrounding the abundance of money being handed out to position players, the San Francisco Giants go and sign Barry Zito, a proven pitcher, to one of the biggest head scratching contracts in baseball history.

This deal is one that will be continuously evaluated throughout its long tenure; 7 years at $126M. You would think that I would be in favour of such a signing, I recently posted that the way of the wise is to sign, trade and draft pitching. To stockpile your organization with arms and then just make sure you've got the right guys teaching them. This signing however, is completely unjustified.

The Giants were desperate for a pitcher. One question though; didn't they just let Jason Schmidt walk away to a tune of 3 years and $47M??? If they're thinking that by falling under the Boras spell and signing Zito they have subsequently attended to a glaring need, I'd also believe that they had no idea Barry Bonds has been on the juice for the past 15 years.

Somehow Zito has been able to parlay his Cy Young award from five years ago into one of the richest contracts a pitcher has ever been awarded. Here's why this deal makes such little sense.

In Oakland, Zito was the benefactor of the huge playing field. The foul territory alone makes up for about half the trip between the neighboring Bay Cities. In San Fran, he will again be situated in a pitcher friendly park, so this may not affect him to as great an extent.

Where Zito will see the difference is in the outfield defense. To be successful in a big ball park you need to have quality outfielders who are mobile and possess strong arms, this is not the case with the Giants, Barry Bonds may be some help, him and his walker that is.

He also was aided by having a core of solid arms coming out of the bullpen in Oakland, again, the Giants won’t be providing much assistance in this area.

The length of this contract is mind boggling. For a pitcher to warrant a seven year commitment they need to show that they are on an incline in their development. Zito has got a diminishing strikeout to walk ratio. His fast ball is starting to deteriorate. This past season he posted the second highest walk mark of his career and is seen as a No. 3 starter amongst inner baseball circles.

Zito does make the Giants legitimate contenders coming into the '07 season. The NL West is a skeletal division where he should have some success. Over the course of the season Zito will primarily be in pitcher friendly ballparks (LAD, SD, SF) and he's shown that he is able to perform in the big game. The Giants can only hope that they receive a fair return on investment.

Pitching is always valued, but there is usually a method behind the madness. In the case of Barry Zito, Scott Boras has once again worked his black magic and is continuing on his path of total destruction within Major League Baseball. Deals like this make me sick.



- JW