Barry Zito was brought in to San Francisco to anchor a San Francisco pitching staff that had some young pitchers on the horizon. Of course, the 2006 season was where Matt Cain made his MLB debut and made 7 starts. Zito was to be the number one starter on a staff that had yet to see Jonathan Sanchez, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarter and even Brian Wilson to some extent. Signing a 7 year, $126 million contract for a pitcher is something difficult to live up to. And it is hard to make a case Zito has lived up to the contract.
In the Giants case, the building up of the young pitching staff had more to do with the 2010 World Series Championship than Zito, who did not pitch in the entire postseason. Zito was a model of consistency in Oakland, averaging well over 200 IP in his 6 full seasons with the Athletics. His first two seasons with the Giants, he had consecutive career highs in losses (13, 17) and ERA (4.53, 5.15) with a decrease in strikeouts while failing to reach 200 IP. After 10-13, 4.03 and a 9-14, 4.15 season in 2010, he had his first and only injury plagued season in 2011, where he pitched in only 13 games, making just 9 starts.
But the Giants managed to win a World Series in 2010, their first since 1954, before they moved from New York to San Francisco. Was that enough to justify the contract? Some may think so, while others will never understand how a pitcher could be given such a lucritive contract. Though Zito has not won 20 games in a SF uniform (which he only did once in Oakland), he has justified his value this season, winning 15 games and throwing 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball to keep the Giants alive in the NLCS vs St Louis. Maybe not worth the $19 million he is making this season, but he has done a very good job this season.
Back to not being worth the 7 years and $126 million. Even though there is no way to say its been a good contract, Zito has made 32 starts in every year except for 2011, pitching at least 180 IP in every season but 2011 and averaging less than a hit per inning pitched. Yes, it would be expected that he win between 17-20 games a season, but some of his earlier Giants teams were simply not that good. If you put his pitching stats for this season against his seasons of 2007-2010, you'd see the only major difference being his win loss record, which in 2012 was 15-8. He actually pitched less innings in 2012 than he did in 2007, 2009 and 2010 and managed the least amount of strikeouts than in any full season he pitched in his career. His 4.15 ERA was actually the same ERA he had in 2010, when he was 9-14 and did not pitch in a postseason game.
But the Giants managed to win a World Series in 2010, their first since 1954, before they moved from New York to San Francisco. Was that enough to justify the contract? Some may think so, while others will never understand how a pitcher could be given such a lucritive contract. Though Zito has not won 20 games in a SF uniform (which he only did once in Oakland), he has justified his value this season, winning 15 games and throwing 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball to keep the Giants alive in the NLCS vs St Louis. Maybe not worth the $19 million he is making this season, but he has done a very good job this season.
Back to not being worth the 7 years and $126 million. Even though there is no way to say its been a good contract, Zito has made 32 starts in every year except for 2011, pitching at least 180 IP in every season but 2011 and averaging less than a hit per inning pitched. Yes, it would be expected that he win between 17-20 games a season, but some of his earlier Giants teams were simply not that good. If you put his pitching stats for this season against his seasons of 2007-2010, you'd see the only major difference being his win loss record, which in 2012 was 15-8. He actually pitched less innings in 2012 than he did in 2007, 2009 and 2010 and managed the least amount of strikeouts than in any full season he pitched in his career. His 4.15 ERA was actually the same ERA he had in 2010, when he was 9-14 and did not pitch in a postseason game.
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