giants possibly cutting Zito?

[sfsportsfan]

saw this on KFFL this morning. pretty surprising

The San Francisco Giants are exasperated with SP Barry Zito, and his status as No. 5 starter definitely isn't safe, according to a source, the San Francisco Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins reports. The team would even consider buying out his contract. Zito has the rest of spring to either resurrect his worth to the Giants or show an opposing team that he'd be valuable in a trade, according to others familiar with the situation. There is concern that Zito hasn't been properly diligent in maintaining his physical conditioning. Zito is owed $18.5 million this season, $39 million more through 2013 and a $7 million buyout for 2014.

Read more: KFFL - San Francisco Giants News and Notes

 

[tzill]

I saw this article, and though I generally like Jenkins...he blew it on this one. There is NO FREAKING WAY the Giants are going to eat that contract and cut a guy who will give you 200 innings and a low 4's ERA. Just not gonna happen. He then goes on to cite Suppan, who hasn't had a year as good as Zito's 2010 in FIVE YEARS.

Classic stirring the pot drama queen writing, IMHO.

Bruce is better than this.

 

[msgkings322]

I saw this article, and though I generally like Jenkins...he blew it on this one. There is NO FREAKING WAY the Giants are going to eat that contract and cut a guy who will give you 200 innings and a low 4's ERA. Just not gonna happen. He then goes on to cite Suppan, who hasn't had a year as good as Zito's 2010 in FIVE YEARS.

Classic stirring the pot drama queen writing, IMHO.

Bruce is better than this.

+1 on the whole post

And +5 on the bolded. I'd add 'spring training' to your list of modifiers. They gotta write something every day, something more than...uh, they played a little baseball today

 

[tzill]

+1 on the whole post

And +5 on the bolded. I'd add 'spring training' to your list of modifiers. They gotta write something every day, something more than...uh, they played a little baseball today

Thanks, msg. I've been pondering this thing and it's clear to me that Jenkins didn't make it up. The Giants want to send some sort of message.

If that's right, then they can't think "we'll light a fire under Zito's butt." The guy is always in shape, always competes. Sooo...here's my theory:

They want to piss him off so he'll waive his no trade clause.

That's it; that's all I got, b/c this story makes no sense otherwise.

 

[SFGRTB]

Thanks, msg. I've been pondering this thing and it's clear to me that Jenkins didn't make it up. The Giants want to send some sort of message.

If that's right, then they can't think "we'll light a fire under Zito's butt." The guy is always in shape, always competes. Sooo...here's my theory:

They want to piss him off so he'll waive his no trade clause.

That's it; that's all I got, b/c this story makes no sense otherwise.

That's a good point. I had almost forgot about the no-trade, so even if we do work out some kind of trade, Zito could waive it. This could certainly help.

Now I have been pondering why thus article is B.S. and while it's not a very legit reason, it keeps saying "That his status as the number 5 starter isn't safe (according to the Giants)". Well, that would go against what they have been saying all along that Zito isn't the number 5 starter and that at this point, MadBum is. Now, I know that we all know that Zito is the 5th best starter on this staff, but the Giants have made it clear that he ISN'T the number 5 starter.

IDK, just a thought.

 

[calsnowskier]

That's a good point. I had almost forgot about the no-trade, so even if we do work out some kind of trade, Zito could waive it. This could certainly help.

Now I have been pondering why thus article is B.S. and while it's not a very legit reason, it keeps saying "That his status as the number 5 starter isn't safe (according to the Giants)". Well, that would go against what they have been saying all along that Zito isn't the number 5 starter and that at this point, MadBum is. Now, I know that we all know that Zito is the 5th best starter on this staff, but the Giants have made it clear that he ISN'T the number 5 starter.

IDK, just a thought.

I don't think it is a semantic issue. I think it is a "I have no story, so I will talk to an "un-named source" and get a bit of national pub with it.

The Giants will NOT cut him. He is a solid #4 on most teams and an elite #5 with us. The money is spent, and it is allocated OUTSIDE of team payroll (Sabean has alluded to this on many occasions).

 

[SFGRTB]

I don't think it is a semantic issue. I think it is a "I have no story, so I will talk to an "un-named source" and get a bit of national pub with it.

The Giants will NOT cut him. He is a solid #4 on most teams and an elite #5 with us. The money is spent, and it is allocated OUTSIDE of team payroll (Sabean has alluded to this on many occasions).

I basically just made this argument over on the other board haha.

 

[tzill]

Jenkins is a pretty well-respected journalist. I doubt he made up the source. Clearly, someone at the Giants wanted this story to get out. Not sure why, unless they are TRYING to piss Zito off. And the only benefit from that would be to get him to waive his no-trade clause.

It's an odd story.