The Giants have a couple big contracts that haven't quite worked out, The Hardball times has a piece this morning imagining how teams with these albatros contracts and one of those players brought up is the Giants very own Barry Zito.
Here is the proposed deal:
Deal #3: The "Too Mellow vs. Too Wound Up" SwapBurnett has been a good pitcher much more recently then Zito, in 2009 he put a season worth 3.4 wins and in 2008 he had a fantastic season worth 5.5 wins. The one thing that he hasn't had is thedurability of Zito, in his 12 years he has only made 30 or more starts 4 times compared to Zito who has done it in all but his first season where he was a mid season call up.
A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees. Signed through 2013. $16.5 million per season. Owed $50 million total.
Kei Igawa, New York Yankees. Signed through 2011. $4 million.
For
Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants. Signed through 2013. $19 million per season. Owed $57.5 million total, plus $7 million buyout for 2014.
Here is the reasoning why it will work out for both teams. It seems to make a lot of sense at least from the Giants perspective, I personally think that Zito would be eaten alive by the New York media but it is not my area of expertise.
A year after bringing his fun attitude to a tight clubhouse and pitching a key win in the 2009 World Series, Burnett is persona non grata in New York. His 2010 was jaw droppingly awful and the idea of him pitching in the playoffs made Yankee fans tremble. (He actually pitched better than his Game 4 of the ALCS line would show but he is a fifth starter at best in New York.)If this deal were truly on the table I would think that the Giants should take it. Burrnett is a pitcher with much higher upside with the potential to be a very good pitcher, however he has missed games due to injury which is the one thing Zito has avoided.
What does it say about a team's confidence in your abilities when you are the highest paid player on the team and healthy but left off of the post season roster? That's what happened with Barry Zito, who was classy and did everything right with the Giants in 2010, except of course pitch well enough to be active in October.
Burnett needs to be in a place where he can just relax and pitch.
Zito needs a place to light a fire under his butt.
Igawa is a throw in to balance the money per the author and he has had minor league sucess but he hasn't shown that in the majors. If he had to be had I guess it wouldn't kill the team to take him and hope that he can be the next reclamation project.
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