The Weak In Rock

Ok, I cannot help myself.  I have to pile on with everyone else who is guffawing at Barry Zito’s recent demotion to the bullpen by the Giants.  I make no secret of this, I loathe the SF Giants.  There are worse teams in Major League Baseball, but I’d wager there are no worse run teams that have the sort of resources at their disposal that the Giants have.  Case in point - Zito.

The Giants are now, at least temporarily, paying $18 million a year for a mediocre long reliever.  They’re saying they’ve moved Zito to the bullpen so that he can work out his mechanics and return to the rotation.  Thing is, there’s nothing wrong with Zito’s mechanics.  His dramatic 12 to 6 curve ball just isn’t being called for strikes by the umps, and without that curve Zito is left to rely on a feeble fastball, a bush-league slider and a pretty impressive change-up to make it through an opponent’s line-up.  If you’re a big league hitter and you see that the umps aren’t going to give him the curve (traditionally Zito’s out pitch) for a strike then you can sit fastball and tattoo it when he serves it up for you.

The irony here is that Tim Lincecum, is currently sporting one of the best ERA’s in the National League, has won 4 games (that’s doubly impressive when you consider the tepid hitters, and mediocre defensive players the Giants are fielding this season) and is doing it all for a little more than 1/10th what Zito is getting paid.

The Giants signed Zito because their front office apparently does not understand baseball fans at all.  They signed Zito to try to balance out the impending loss in star power they knew they were going to suffer when Barry Bonds left for free agency.  The trouble with that theory of running a baseball team is that while Barry Bonds may have had sufficient star power and draw to distract fans from the poor performance of the team, Zito was never going to be close to that, and what really matters to any sports fan isn’t the names printed on the jerseys, it’s winning.

We invest our egos in our favorite teams.  When they lose we feel like losers.  When they win we take credit and carry that around as if we’d done more than just scarf down hot dogs and drink beer.  The Giants have two very talented home grown pitchers, Matt Cain and the aforementioned Lincecum.  It stands to reason that there’s other talent in the Giants organization, or at the very least that their scouts know where to find young, inexpensive talent.  This is one of the biggest reasons I hate the Giants.  They consistently rely on overpriced, under-performing veterans to flesh out their roster.  That’s a questionable move with hitters/fielders.  It’s brain-dead with pitchers.  It’s likely that Zito’s curve doesn’t cross the plate anymore because he no longer has the strength or flexibility to throw it with the proper bite.  Mechanical tweaking isn’t going to fix that.

Technorati Tags: Barry Zito, SF Giants, Major League Baseball, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain

This is just too funny not to comment on.

Barry Zito has now tied the record for most consecutive opening day losses for a starting pitcher at four. Who did he tie?  Rick Reuschel.    Another pitcher who wore a Giants uniform, and who was mostly mediocre in his career with a few years where he was pretty great.  Yup.  That’s Zito.

I’ve said it before many times.  Zito is overrated and does not deserve top billing in anyone’s rotation.  Yes, he has a brilliant curve ball, but if the umps aren’t calling it for a strike the guy’s got nothing to fall back on.  He throws a great change-up, but the fastball that’s supposed to set it off is one of the worst to come out of the hand of a big league pitcher.  If the hitters are able to sit fastball on Zito because the umps aren’t calling his curve for a strike they’ll light him up, just like the Dodgers did tonight.

This is going to be a rough season to be an A’s fan, but we can be consoled by reminding ourselves that at least we’re not rooting for what looks like the worst Giants lineup in a decade.  Actually, I don’t feel the most sorry for Giants fans.  I feel the most sorry for Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.  On any other team these two would be a great one-two punch in the starting rotation, but with the team they’re pitching for Cain and Lincecum are mostly going to just get really good at maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of an endless stream of losses.  At least for them no one is going to be screaming about their inflated salaries.  That honor will go to Zito.

Technorati Tags: Barry Zito, Rick Reuschel, Giants, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum