Barry Zito Reportedly Rejoins Athletics on Minor-League Deal
By Lou Musto
Barry Zito is not ready to call it quits just yet, and he’s attempting to revive his Major League career with the team that gave him his first break—the Oakland Athletics.
The Athletics signed the 36-year-old starting pitcher to a minor-league deal Monday evening, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Blast from the past: Barry Zito is going to sign a minor-league deal with the #Athletics and come to spring camp.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) February 17, 2015
The deal is reportedly worth $1 million, according to CBS Sports, and includes an invite to Spring Training. Zito has not pitched in a Major League game since the 2013 season, during which he appeared in 30 games, starting 25 and going 5-11 with a 5.74 ERA.
The left-hander spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career with the Athletics, compiling a 102-63 record with a 3.55 ERA and an average of 157 strikeouts per year. He won the 2002 AL Cy Young Award at the age of 24 after finishing 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA. Zito, along with fellow pitching aces Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson, was a key player in the Athletics’ success in the early 2000s. Oakland appeared in the playoffs five out of seven seasons from 2000-2006, winning the AL West four times.
Zito cashed in on his own successes following the 2006 season, signing a seven-year deal worth $126 million with the San Francisco Giants. The deal included a $14 million option for 2014. At the time, his contract was the highest for a pitcher in Major League history.
Sadly, he could never live up to the deal and his performance rapidly declined from the moment he signed the contract.
Though he remained healthy for the majority of his duration in San Francisco, he went just 63-80 with a dismal 4.62 ERA. Three times he finished among the top 5 in losses. He did have the fortune of enjoying two World Series championships as a member of the Giants, but appeared in just one postseason for the team. He pitched in three games during the Giants’ 2012 championship run, helping the team to victories in Game 5 of the NLCS and Game 1 of the World Series.
The Giants bought Zito’s contract out for $7 million following the 2013 season and the 14-year veteran spent the entire 2014 season as a free agent.
Oakland drafted Zito with the ninth overall selection in the 1999 amateur draft out of USC. Though there’s a slim chance Zito is able to survive Spring Training with the A’s, it’s a nice sentiment to allow him to return to where it all began.