A group weblog for Oakland A's fans
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
How are we going to keep Zito?
This is the question I have been pondering for a few days now. Is there any chance at all? My hope was the A's would have won the WS this year and the excitement of it all would have made A's management and Zito and his agent decide they'd like to try again. But this year ended on a sour note, when the A's got swept.
When you can pay Blanton and Haren less than a mil each, how do you justify paying Zito 10 mil or more per year? That's the tough question. My answer is: Zito never gets hurt, Zito is a proven commodity, Zito may make his peers better. But is that worth 10x the salary of whoever gets that spot? Tough to justify.
Here is my pitch: the A's should offer Zito 4 years 40 mil plus incentives and a mutual option which would make the deal 5 worth years 60 mil. If you do this, and Zito doesn't pan out, 4 years 40 mil is not so bad. If he does like he has done or a little better, you get good value for your money. But it is a tough sell, and probably would not keep Zito in green and gold anyway. I just hate to not even try.
This is the question I have been pondering for a few days now. Is there any chance at all? My hope was the A's would have won the WS this year and the excitement of it all would have made A's management and Zito and his agent decide they'd like to try again. But this year ended on a sour note, when the A's got swept.
When you can pay Blanton and Haren less than a mil each, how do you justify paying Zito 10 mil or more per year? That's the tough question. My answer is: Zito never gets hurt, Zito is a proven commodity, Zito may make his peers better. But is that worth 10x the salary of whoever gets that spot? Tough to justify.
Here is my pitch: the A's should offer Zito 4 years 40 mil plus incentives and a mutual option which would make the deal 5 worth years 60 mil. If you do this, and Zito doesn't pan out, 4 years 40 mil is not so bad. If he does like he has done or a little better, you get good value for your money. But it is a tough sell, and probably would not keep Zito in green and gold anyway. I just hate to not even try.
