Write On Sports LLC - "THE 126 MILLION DOLLAR MAN" by Ahmed Javaid

THE 126 MILLION DOLLAR MAN

2008-05-11 16:23:43 | By: Ahmed Javaid

And the winner of the 2002 Cy Young Award is…………..Barry Zito. Tough to believe isn’t it? Just six seasons ago the left handed starter was considered one of the best pitchers in baseball. Of course like all players in the Oakland organization that could reel in lucrative contracts, Zito along with his teammates, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder moved on to new teams. Coincidentally, all three now pitch in the National League which is considered the weaker offensive league. Three All Star appearances are another one of the accomplishments on the 126 million dollar man’s resume. That at the time was the richest contract given to a pitcher. Now it could be considered the worst contract ever. In his first year with the Giants he set a career high in ERA along with lows in strikeouts and winning percentage. It is very easy to forget that this is the same guy that dominated the entire league. But now he has lost a job in the starting rotation of one of the worst teams in all of baseball.

Zito is known for his superstitions that seem to confound his teammates but make him relax. However nothing seems to be working for him recently. It is very tough to picture the same player winning twenty three games in the big leagues just a few seasons ago. Cy Young caliber expectations have now dwindled to a start by start search for consistency. Zito has always had some command problems that would set him back at times. But now even with his huge 12-6 breaking ball there is little he can do to fool or confuse opposing batters. His fastball used to hit 90 mph on the gun at times allowing him to create a nice blend with his changeup, slider, and notorious curveball. The fastball has obviously dropped down on average about 5 to 7 mph which makes it very tough for him to makes batters fear anything coming out of his over the top left handed delivery. With hitters able to react so easily to the fastball, the off-speed pitches lose their effectiveness. This has caused Zito to throw more pitches, allow more base runners, and the result is shorter outings with little positive outcomes to build on during the off days.

If it is a mechanical flaw then Zito now more than ever misses the old days in Oakland. Sure he is still in the same state but the franchise offered him so much more. During his stint with the Athletics his pitching coach Rick Peterson who is considered one of the best in the game worked really well with him in correcting and improving mechanics constantly. Now with the Mets. Peterson has new projects to focus on and Zito’s career seems to keep going downhill. It could also be a physical problem but the left hander has not shown much discomfort during his outings. At least not until he was pulled in his many disappointing appearances.

The best pitchers on the San Francisco Giants are the young phenoms named Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. Zito is just another name on the roster at this point. He is trying to find and regain some of the old magic to hopefully resurrect what is turning out to be a nightmare. The one thing Zito does have going for him is that with his extremely laid back manner he has the patience to keep working and push himself to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe just maybe Billy Beane has fooled us all once again. Maybe he knew that Zito would not be able remain successful for much longer. Even Mark Mulder who was part of that “graduating class” from Oakland has struggled quite a bit with injuries and his numbers have never been the same. The lesson here once again is that no player is worth that type of money. Some athletes inevitably will get record setting deals but its never going to be a sure thing. The classic example and face of that mistake, for all organizations, is number seventy five, Barry Zito.

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