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Sports

Baseball's Biggest Bust: Zito is making $126 million dollars for 0-6 record, 7.53 ERA

By Gwen Knapp
Scripps Howard
Published: April 30, 2008

Forget the money. Separate Barry Zito from that $126 million, and think in purely baseball terms. A Cy Young Award winner, a healthy 29-year-old pitcher who had not missed a start or registered a losing season until he joined the San Francisco Giants a year ago, has been demoted to the bullpen.

He has an 0-6 record and a 7.53 ERA, yet the numbers, as hideous as they are, only begin to explain the problem. Zito is fast becoming the pitcher's answer to Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax, second basemen who unaccountably lost the ability to throw to first base. Whatever it is that made him a major-league athlete has gone missing.

It has gotten so bad that he was just demoted to the bullpen.

People will say they foresaw this in 2006, when he was a coveted free agent, expected to earn at least $90 million over six years. They said he didn't have the fastball to be a staff ace, that he could not be a Roger Clemens or a Curt Schilling or even a Roy Oswalt. Now they've been proven right, except the proof is so over-the-top that they're kind of wrong, too.

No one could have predicted what has happened this year. Even with the fading fastball, Zito was 16-10 in his last season with the Oakland A's. If the Giants had signed him at a relative bargain, for $85 million over seven years, his decline still would be astounding. He still would be a free-agent bust.

Then again, a $63 million deal would have put less pressure on Zito to be Clemens, Schilling and Oswalt, and he still might be able to pitch effectively. Is that an excuse? No, once he signed the fat contract, it was his job to deal with the stress.

The job of a major-leaguer always carries stress, whether the man in question is making the rookie minimum or the highest salary at his position in the history of the game. Failure is failure, at any price.

In Zito's case, the failure came with a safety net. A rookie with his record would have toddled off to Class AAA Fresno by now. But the numbers that saved him aren't the ones on his contract. They're six winning seasons, 1,6552/3 innings with a lifetime 3.73 ERA. If this had happened when he was with the A's, paying him far less, they would have stuck with him, too.

The demotion was big news nationally. The $126 million man (for seven years, through 2013) goes to the 'pen. But really where was the surprise after Sunday's 10-1 loss to Cincinnati? If he hadn't been demoted, that would have been more shocking.

As it is, the Giants put baseball considerations ahead of any organizational ego connected to the payroll. That's reassuring, because ego got them into this mess from the beginning.

The upper-level brass gave Zito an extravagant contract to prove a point. They wanted to appease fans that thought that the club had sold out the future when it invested another wad of cash in Barry Bonds. The $126 million was pure showboating.

Now, it's Zito's identity. He's the one who, after Sunday's disaster, became the topic of an SFGate.com parlor game, asking readers to compare paychecks with his. That question isn't complete unless it's paired with: Did your boss hire and overpay you to cover up a mistake?

If any immediate good can come from Zito's demotion, it would be a timeout on salary obsessions. They're tedious, and they're pervasive in the Bay Area.

The 49ers would benefit enormously from not hearing that Alex Smith could turn into a $24 million loss this summer. First of all, that's not true. He has played three seasons for them, so only $6 million of his original signing bonus would be truly wasted if he didn't take a snap for them this year. If he ends up as Shaun Hill's backup, they'll still be getting some value out of him.

The point is money or fear of humiliation about money shouldn't decide who starts at quarterback. It shouldn't determine how long Zito stays in the bullpen, or whether he is asked to go to the minors. That could be the only way back for him, and if it is, he'll have to endure more headlines and angry fans screaming his un-magic number.

It's such a big figure, $126 million, and yet it represents emptiness. Better not to think about it.

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Some horrible contracts

Name%Team%Years%Dollars%Comment

Barry Zito%San Francisco%7%$126 million%Fastball down to 84 mph

Mike Hampton%Colorado%8%$121 million%53 wins; last 3 years have been lost due to injury

Kevin Brown%L.A. Dodgers%7%$105 million%Went 31-26 in last 4 years

Mo Vaughn%Anaheim%6%$88 million%Injured in first game with Angels and never was the same

Photos