Barry W. Zito

The "W." is for "William." First, there was this Barry William Zito:

                                                 
Year          GS     IP    H  ER  HR  BB   SO ERA+
2000          14   92.2   64  28   6  45   78  173
2001          35  214.1  184  83  18  80  205  125
2002          35  229.1  182  70  24  78  182  158
2003          35  231.2  186  85  19  88  146  135
2004          34  213.0  216 106  28  81  163  102
2005          35  228.1  185  98  26  89  171  113
2006          34  221.0  211  94  27  99  151  116
AL (7 yrs)   222 1430.1 1228 564 148 560 1096  125

Then, there was this Barry William Zito:

2007          33 196.2 182  99 24  83 131   99
2008          32 180.0 186 103 16 102 120   86
2009          33 192.0 179  86 21  81 154  106
2010          33 199.1 184  92 20  84 150   98
NL (4 yrs)   131 768.0 731 380 81 350 555   97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/16/2011.

The NL West is a tough place on pitchers, obviously. The guy was an All-Star and Cy Young winner over in the wimpy-ass American League. He comes to the NL and ka-boom! No more Mr. Big Shot. Now just another journeyman innings-eater.


ZiPS says 176 IP, 168 H, 82 ER, 18 HR, 78 BB, 133 K, 100 ERA+ in 30 starts. Bill James says he's good for a 4.46 FIP (lifetime it's 4.29) in 32 starts, 183 IP. FanGraphs had Zito as 5.1 WAR pitcher in 2001, a 4.3 WAR pitcher in 2003, and a 3.0 WAR pitcher in 2005. His four seasons as a Giant rate 1.7, 1.4, 2.2, and 2.1 WAR. Cot's says he'll get $18.5 M in 2011. Once again, more proof that burdening your team payroll with long-term contracts for aging, league-average veterans is the key to World Series success. I think we know what we are going to get with Barry Zito this season. If the rest of the Starting Four stay healthy, we'll have the best no. 5 guy in the game.


--M.C.