Hold your horses, Internet. After Sunday’s news that Andruw Jones would be attempting an MLB comeback in 2015, another familiar name from years past could be joining him on an MLB roster this spring – former AL Cy Young winner Barry Zito.
Barry Zito is throwing for a select group of teams Tuesday, says Scott Boras. He still wants to pitch after sitting out 2014.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) February 2, 2015
Zito will be 37 in May, and took 2014 off following a disastrous 2013 with the Giants. In that season, the final year of a seven-year, $126 million contract, Zito threw just 133 1/3 innings over 25 starts and five relief appearances. In those 30 outings, Zito struck out 86, walked 54, and pitched to a shocking 5.74 ERA.
As a Giant, Zito’s lowest ERA was 4.03. In fact, he had more seasons with an ERA over 5.00 (four) than under 5.00 (three). He also never crossed the 200 inning mark after passing the threshold in six straight years with Oakland.
I don’t think Zito has anything left in the tank. Hell, he didn’t have much of anything left in the tank *before* taking a year off. But then again, Mark Mulder got a minor league deal from the Angels last winter after not pitching in five years – anything is possible.
