Barry Zito news

uh oh.....

The Rangers reportedly have been told they're out of the Barry Zito (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6394) sweepstakes, and according to MLB.com, the Giants might be the left-hander's likely landing place.
Mr. DependableBarry Zito has won at least 10 games and pitched at least 200 innings for six consecutive seasons. Only one active pitcher has a longer active streak:
Livan Hernandez 7 Zito 6 Freddy Garcia 6 Mark Buehrle 6

The Rangers wanted Zito to decide by the end of this week if he was going to accept their offer, but MLB.com and the Dallas Morning News reported Thursday that Zito rejected Texas' six-year, $80 million offer.

In addition, a source told MLB.com that the Rangers expect Zito to sign with the San Francisco Giants (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=sfo).
Zito and his agent, Scott Boras, met with Rangers owner Tom Hicks, general manager Jon Daniels and other team officials in a visit to Texas on Nov. 30. Zito and Boras have also met with the New York Mets (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=nym), and the Yankees could pursue the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner if they trade Randy Johnson (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=4288). The Seattle Mariners also reportedly are interested in Zito.


The Rangers on Saturday completed a five-player deal with the Chicago White Sox (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=cha), giving up former No. 1 draft pick John Danks to add Brandon McCarthy (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7484) to their rotation.
Kevin Millwood (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5848) and recently re-signed Vicente Padilla (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6257) are already in the rotation with Robinson Tejeda (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7537), a 24-year-old right-hander who went 5-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 14 starts last season.
Zito is 102-63 in 222 career starts, including a 16-10 mark with a 3.83 ERA in 34 starts this year before becoming a free


UPDATE: HE SIGNED WITH SF FOR A SHITLOAD OF $$

If Zito signs with San Francisco, Russo can never bitch about payroll when Mike's away again.

Oh Chris will still bitch and moan because in his eyes it is ok to have a couple huge contracts, not one at each position. His problem with the Yankees is that they pile up $10 million+/year long term contracts on their team, plugging in one guy for the next. If a player is hurt, unproductive simply plug in another all-star with a huge contract, ie Damon in for Bernie, Abreu in for Sheff, possibly Clemens for Randy Johnson and on and on.

He is going to love the Zito signing, especially just to get on the Met fan, can't wait for this **** show

Heyman came on Kellerman's show to confirm Zito's deal - 7 years, $126M

it's official!

zito is doggies new baby.

Fruit loops will show how much of a phoney he is. When the Met's were looking at signing Zito for 75 million Friut loops was screaming he wasn't worth it, want to bet he says it was worth it for the Giant's to sign him at 126 million?

nah he wont. he will say it is overspending "but in this market blah blah blah"

Well now we know what he will start the show with tommorow, he will quickly gloss over the Jets ("they are basically in the playoffs and we will get to them next week") and the Giants ("same thing") and talk about this and how as some people have said its a function of the market. He will probably go more on the Mets and what they will do know while he paints a doom and gloom picture.

He will probably go more on the Mets and what they will do know while he paints a doom and gloom picture.

he should! this will make great radio as it will get all the met fans all riled up.
this imho is a blow to the mets, that starting staff blows.

oh god 5 hours of zito talk on the last weekend of the nfl regular season

oh god 5 hours of zito talk on the last weekend of the nfl regular season

expect to hear "oh the pain" about 4500 times from 2pm on

expect to hear "oh the pain" about 4500 times from 2pm on

nah joe will only talk about it for an hour or so then go back to nfl

chris will make it the whole show and say how he cant get into the nfl right now..

listen i wanted zito more than anyone but holy ****

$126 mil ($144 with incentives)????????????

that is so absurd. let him go. I don't need Mets blowing their whole load on one guy.

The Milledge trade countdown begins now........

listen i wanted zito more than anyone but holy ****

$126 mil ($144 with incentives)????????????

that is so absurd. let him go. I don't need Mets blowing their whole load on one guy.

The Milledge trade countdown begins now........

i agree thats insane,you dont pay that money to a #2 starter,zito will be a good pitcher but the giants will regret it when they realize getting zito hamstrings them from any other big moves in the next 7 years..

with that said mets need to get a starter in here somehow..

Do you think it kills Doggie that I milked his Giants for over 126 million?

7 years for 126mil?!?!?! The last time I checked, he won the Cy Young Award 4 years ago. This guy is at best an above-average pitcher, a 2 starter. He's not worth all those years and money.

Oh well, not my team.

Do you think Russo opposes this signing? If he doesn't, then he's definitely a hypocrite. "Zito's not a big time pitcher, overrated, blah blah blah".

zito is arguably a #1 but he's not worth $126 million/ 7 year deal. he was 3.83 with a 1.40 whip, .257 BAA, and 150 K's.

can't believe the giants did this after letting schmidt go.

dodgers signed jason schmidt to $47/ 3 year deal, who was 3.59 with a 1.29 whip, .238 BAA, and 180 K's.

ok, schmidt was in the NL but come on - that does not merit the deal that zito got. he's not johann santana.

can't wait to see the giants suck wind all season and hear chris turn on zito, the deal, and the giants management. it will happen. and he's friends with the dodgers' GM ned colleti too, so it will be fun to hear their conversations during the season.

to put it in the words of chris: WHERE ARE YOU GIANTS FANS?

zito is arguably a #1 but he's not worth $126 million/ 7 year deal. he was 3.83 with a 1.40 whip, .257 BAA, and 150 K's.

can't believe the giants did this after letting schmidt go.

dodgers signed jason schmidt to $47/ 3 year deal, who was 3.59 with a 1.29 whip, .238 BAA, and 180 K's.

ok, schmidt was in the NL but come on - that does not merit the deal that zito got. he's not johann santana.

can't wait to see the giants suck wind all season and hear chris turn on zito, the deal, and the giants management. it will happen. and he's friends with the dodgers' GM ned colleti too, so it will be fun to hear their conversations during the season.

to put it in the words of chris: WHERE ARE YOU GIANTS FANS?

I was listening to some show on XM last night, it might have been ESPN News or something, btu anyway, the guys were talking baseball and Zito came up. One of the guys believed that the Yanks would jump into the bidding, just to hurt the Mets chances of acquiring Zito, especially since both teams seem to fight for the back pages.

The host felt that the Yanks had a shot to get Zito, especially with Johnson close to being traded.

Funny how quickly things change. For days, all I heard about was how the Yanks might get involved, even though Texas was the favorite to land Zito, and out of the blue comes San Francisco.

I like that the Yankees did not go into a bidding war. Boras must have been salivating at the chance to get them and the Mets involved.

Good pitcher, but not worth the money.

The Mets are lucky they didn't get him for that money because atleast now they can do something else if they need so..

Do you think Russo opposes this signing? If he doesn't, then he's definitely a hypocrite. "Zito's not a big time pitcher, overrated, blah blah blah".

I think Chris will be as giddy as kid on Christmas morning. He always talks about how down he is on the Giants until they make a move or two in the winter and then he gets all giddy. Plus this signing came at the expense of the Mets which will make him even happier. He will start talking about how the Giants were not that far off last year and how now that they have Zito, Roberts, Molina and Bonds back they are "going for it" this year. He'll bash the Dodgers for signing Schmidt etc and then he will basically be preying on all the depressed Met fans. I'm sure there may even be a little "Denny and Chris on the Giants" segment and a good 10 minute segment before one of the 20/20s with Mr. Met. The last thing he wanted to do was talk Giants and Jets for 5 hours now he can do 4 hours of Barry Zito, and 1 hour of football rolled into the picks at 5.

Guys..........Mets fans aren't that upset, at least this one isn't. I know we have holes in the starting rotation but I don't forsee any trades with Milledge the rest of the winter. Seems to me Omar might make a minor signing (Mulder) perhaps and go from there. We do have a nice group of talented albeit inexperienced young pitchers so they might let everything die down see how these guys come out of spring training and then make an in season move. As the season goes along you still have Glavine and El Duque then Pedro possibly Mulder and a young starter, not great but not too bad either.

I don't think the money was the Met problem with Zito it was the years. He's in for the Giants for 7 years with an $18 million dollar 8th year option. You can't give pitchers 7 or 8 years. Look at Hampton and Kevin Brown as two examples off the top of my head. Were they worth the years towards the end? I don't think so. It's a bad gamble for the Giants or any team.

I bet Russo is downloading pics of Barry Zito right now with a roll of Scott towels and a gallon of Jergens Hand Cream.

Whack Away CR!

As a Mets fan I will say this is a huge letdown. I thought for sure it was a lock the Mets would offer 6 years at 100 million and we hear now they weren't willing to go over 5 years. Yet they have no qualms about raising ticket prices, can't wait to see the new prices with the Citifield Stadium in 2 years.

If the Mets were willing to go 5 years at 75 million, why not throw in 25 million. That would have presented Zito with a tougher call maybe he would have still taken the Giants offer, I'm sure some of this was the fact that he wanted to stay on the West Coast. At least give a competitive offer.

The Mets have a window of roughly 3 years to get a title. The time is now, they need to make bold moves.

You guys are right about Russo, when he thought the Mets were going to sign him he spent hours debating Mike on how Zito was like a number 3 pitcher in the rotation. The funny thing is Zito shouted a week ago how he was concerned now with winning and being the next Sandy Koufax, how does this move sit with that statement. He is not winning a title with this team.

Just like 99 percent of athletes, Zito took the money.

How do the Mets have a three year window to win a title?

The Mets are a now team with a yesterday starting rotation.

I think both New York teams made a mistake not making a more serious run at Zito. I know it's a pile of money as high as Francesa is fat. But he is very healthy pitcher and those are a rare intelligent Russo comments. Perhaps the Mets figure with young uns like Pelfrey, Humber and Maine they can be stars with Rick Peterson's "coaching techniques" he used on Guillermo Mota (Minaya couldn't wait to sign that juicer). Perhaps the Yankees think he is not "a number one" and the old guys like Mussina,Pettitte and Johnson (if he stays) can win one with the "all over 30 except for Cano" lineup. But both these teams have TV networks and taxpayer-fleeced new stadia being built.

I think both New York teams made a mistake not making a more serious run at Zito. I know it's a pile of money as high as Francesa is fat. But he is very healthy pitcher and those are a rare intelligent Russo comments. Perhaps the Mets figure with young uns like Pelfrey, Humber and Maine they can be stars with Rick Peterson's "coaching techniques" he used on Guillermo Mota (Minaya couldn't wait to sign that juicer). Perhaps the Yankees think he is not "a number one" and the old guys like Mussina,Pettitte and Johnson (if he stays) can win one with the "all over 30 except for Cano" lineup. But both these teams have TV networks and taxpayer-fleeced new stadia being built.


I think the Mets needed Zito much more than the Yankees, but I can see the Mets not ponying up that much money. The problem for the Mets is that there is really no decent pitchers left on the market. If the Mets would have passed on that ridiculous contract a month ago then they could have picked up a Suppan and at least added a quality pitcher, at this point there is no one really out there for them to sign, and they need to bolster that rotation.

As for the yankees, some guy Mike Millefy(sp) was filling in for Michael Kay yesterday and said that Zito's career ERA against the Red Sox Blue Jays and the Yankees was over 5.00.

No, the Yankees did not need Zito. The Yanks already have a solid pitching staff full of control-pitch count pitchers. They need a fireballer to round out their rotation. They also need a real solid 6th-7th inning guy to compliment Proctor-Rivera, maybe someone even more solid than Proctor and be Mariano's eventual replacement. And the Yankees need a solid, defensive 1st baseman that can offensively work the count and sacrifice to advance runners.

Zito does not fit any of those needs, and paying that much for Zito in the new Brian Cashman-only era would not make much sense at all.

Overall, I think the Yankees are done making those blockbuster type deals this offseason. The Randy Johnson deal unfortunately looks like it's dead.

No, the Yankees did not need Zito. The Yanks already have a solid pitching staff full of control-pitch count pitchers. They need a fireballer to round out their rotation. They also need a real solid 6th-7th inning guy to compliment Proctor-Rivera, maybe someone even more solid than Proctor and be Mariano's eventual replacement. And the Yankees need a solid, defensive 1st baseman that can offensively work the count and sacrifice to advance runners.

Zito does not fit any of those needs, and paying that much for Zito in the new Brian Cashman-only era would not make much sense at all.

Overall, I think the Yankees are done making those blockbuster type deals this offseason. The Randy Johnson deal unfortunately looks like it's dead.

considering they are planning on starting proctor they need some mid relief even more than you mention. i didnt want zito either, although i heard an interesting stat. he has NOT missed a start in SIX YEARS! WOW!

RJ is a piece of ****.

No, the Yankees did not need Zito. The Yanks already have a solid pitching staff full of control-pitch count pitchers. They need a fireballer to round out their rotation. They also need a real solid 6th-7th inning guy to compliment Proctor-Rivera, maybe someone even more solid than Proctor and be Mariano's eventual replacement. And the Yankees need a solid, defensive 1st baseman that can offensively work the count and sacrifice to advance runners.

Zito does not fit any of those needs, and paying that much for Zito in the new Brian Cashman-only era would not make much sense at all.

Overall, I think the Yankees are done making those blockbuster type deals this offseason. The Randy Johnson deal unfortunately looks like it's dead.
EVERYONE, including the Yanks, could use a pitcher like Zito in their rotatation. He would be an upgrade over most of their current rotation. That said, they didn't need him at 7/126.

BANG! He's excited....