Comments on: San Francisco Chronicle columnist says Giants might release Barry Zito before Opening Day

By: 1kkadams

1kkadams — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:20:35 +0000

last year — who was tim seemingly always talking to when not pitching? zito — so you keep him to keep timmy happy!?!?!?!?!?

while I agree that eating that much money on a 4.x ERA 5th in the rotation starter is not reasonable — I also agree that you don’t start people just because they have a big contract — kudos to the organization in the world series…………..and if he is out of shape etc — then ding him etc.

yes the article was to generate buzz — congrats!!

unless of course somebody wants him — he might be happier?

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:01:38 +0000

Sportwriters need to garner attention, even if that means writing ridiculousness such as this. It’s a shame, and it wasn’t a bright or reasonable thing to write, but look at the attention his article got.

By: luckywi

luckywi — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:56:45 +0000

Ok. This whole exchange started with me disputing Liriano’s “ace” status. It is subjective, but shouldn’t a true ace throw more than 180 innings in a full season? His other numbers are good, but I think an ace should be able to go PAST the 7th inning once in a while. Liriano seems to view 6 innings as his goal. I just don’t think the guy is mentally tough. He seems well aware of the numbers that make a quality start. And transferring those numbers to $$$’s. He freely admitted to a lack of confidence last year. Not really the sign of an ace. He may be a true ace in the future, but at this point he’s just a good starter. Or good trade bait. The people who run the team seem concerned about his health in the future. And since they see him on a day to day basis, and certainly won’t talk publicly about his health, would know morre about this than you or I.

By: normb11

normb11 — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:40:57 +0000

I would have gladly went for another trip to the espresso machine, but now you say Liriano isn’t the Twins ace, which is just flat out wrong, so I have to call you out on that incorrect comment.

By: fatcatt

fatcatt — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:55:29 +0000

what an absolutely assinine coment to make. their is no team in any major sport willing to eat 65 mill over a healthy player. how unbelievably stupid..this source of his made him look stupid. you always have another source to confirm rumors such as that before you say or print it. This reporter should be fired. Because he wanted the glory he reports a false rumor. unfortunately this happens everday in the media world now. not like it used to be when there was some integrity. The media gets pissed when they dont get what they want from someone, but its ok for them to report factless stories. 20+ years or not this reporter should be fired. Moron.

By: BC

BC — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:25:28 +0000

Well, wait a minute, Manny did pretty well in Boston. (PED’s notwithstanding). Maddux did pretty well in Atlanta. Texiera and A-Rod have done pretty well in NY.
The curse is not universal…. it only seeks out the weak and overachieving and sucks the life from them. Mmmmmmmmwwwaaaahahahhahaha……

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:25:15 +0000

you know for all the Colon ripping this mofo is going to throw 220+ innings this season and 2 No-no’s. just out of spite. well… either that or a eat 12 double doubles in one sitting.. i’ll be right about one of those.

By: BC

BC — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:20:28 +0000

To re-quote/paraphrase myself…. if Colon were any bigger he’d have moons orbiting him. NO chance on Colon. I’d give Garcia a good looking-at though. Might be something left in the tank there.

By: BC

BC — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:18:05 +0000

+1000

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:05:36 +0000

ok now thats thats behind us…. lets get back tot he fact that by this time next week every useless peice of pitching crap available will be on the yankess and Cashman will make a giant dartboard out of them. then AJ gets to throw at them and whoever is left standing is our 5th starter.

By: tomemos

tomemos — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:03:56 +0000

His skills are clearly inadequate to his contract, yes. They’re not inadequate to his role in the rotation. Again: is Blanton an “adequate” pitcher? Will he be on the playoff roster this year?

Just look at Zito’s stats and tell me if he’s adequate (though, again, not for the money he’s being paid).

By: jxegh

jxegh — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:57:40 +0000

Yes, he’s the 5th starter – most teams don’t have the 5th starter in the playoff rotation. Yes, he’s the highest paid pitcher on the World Series winning San Francisco Giants. Yeah, I’d trade that any day!

By: sayheykidwschamp

sayheykidwschamp — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:26:15 +0000

Baseball god sounds like Selig…so no reason to pay attention I guess.

By: luckywi

luckywi — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:27:28 +0000

Nope. It’s Peavey, right? Thsi was all started in reference to Gleeman calling Liriano the twins ace. Which he clearly isn’t. SO we can argue semantics, or you can take your poodle act back to the espresso machine and find anither heel to nip at. Your choice.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:13:17 +0000

stop kicking paulee, man. He’s hurting enough.

By: normb11

normb11 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:53:48 +0000

“You mean like calling a guy who isn’t even an opening day starter an “ace”?”

You didn’t say anything about ace of staff there…
…

White Sox starting Mark Buehrle on opening day. Is he their Ace? Nope.

By: trevorb06

trevorb06 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:40:16 +0000

I’m sure they could easily trade him tot he Angels. They like that sort of thing.

By: luckywi

luckywi — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:25:44 +0000

Ace of STAFF?

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:21:11 +0000

Apology accepted!

By: normb11

normb11 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:16:38 +0000

Is Cliff Lee not an Ace?

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:09:41 +0000

Gentlemen – phukyouk the problem that I have with your comment is and I understand phukyouk the caveat “maybe” but even with the caveat bigharold went on to respond and I quote “That’s just one more thing that he’s said I don’t necessarily agree with”. No caveat in that response, we went from a maybe to it being fact.
So we went from your comment of really not knowing who said what to bigharold saying that was a comment he didn’t agree with me about.
I don’t expect people even Yankee fans to agree with all or even most of my comments. But what I do expect is comments attributed to me be accurate.
I apologize if that’s to much to ask and yes bigharold I realize no one is questioning my intelligence or sanity.

By: luckywi

luckywi — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:54:45 +0000

Nah, I guess not. I’m sure you wouldn’t want the “ace” of your staff to get things off to a good start.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:47:59 +0000

“uyf1950 – Mar 2, 2011 at 4:32 PM
To phukyouk and bigharold – please don’t attribute comments to me or speculate about comments you think but are not sure I may or may not have made.”

Are you sure you understand how this baseball blogging thing works? Don’t get yourself in an uproar nobody is questioning your intelligence or your sanity.

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:40:31 +0000

“i dont remember who said it a few weeks ago.. maybe is was UYF”

thats the key right there UYF!

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:32:01 +0000

To phukyouk and bigharold – please don’t attribute comments to me or speculate about comments you think but are not sure I may or may not have made.
Just so we are clear. I have no problem with the Yankees signing reclamation projects (as I like to call them). The Yankees have ample staff in Florida to evaluate the 3 pitchers (Mitre, Garcia and Colon) currently vying for the final rotation spot. I think Nova has the 4th spot locked up.
One other comment I like Garcia for the 5th spot.

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:29:38 +0000

Also, Barry Zito won the World Series last season too. We did not punish the team, We punished the player.

By: normb11

normb11 — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:29:10 +0000

You have to start on opening day to be an “Ace”?

By: The Baseball Gods

The Baseball Gods — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:23:56 +0000

First of all, there is no such thing as a “max contract” in baseball. Secondly, the Yankees put baseball on the map and therefore have been rewarded for that. We decided to let Mr. Steinbrenner leave the world on top, just like We did with Harry Kalas for the Phillies. A team wins a World Series, not individual players. Loyalty is a much bigger virtue that cannot be overlooked. Both Steinbrenner and Kalas were extremely loyal to their teams and fans and therefore We rewarded them before they succumbed to the greater powers of this universe.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:11:16 +0000

“…maybe is was UYF but the more we keep picking up the crap the less time the trainers have to work with the actual big league starters.”

That’s just one more thing that he’s said I don’t necessarily agree with.

I’m not advocating acquiring Zito but with his performance one would have to agree that he’s a serviceable 5th starter. He’s slightly less than a .500 pitcher and about a 4.40 era with close to 200 IP per year. How that translates into the AL East is anybodies guess but it can’t be much if any worse than Mitre, Garcia or Colon.

If he were to get DFA’d it would cost the Yankees nothing to look at him and by virtue of him being a LHP it would be foolish for the Yankees not to.

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:58:05 +0000

i dont remember who said it a few weeks ago.. maybe is was UYF but the more we keep picking up the crap the less time the trainers have to work with the actual big league starters. lets focus on what we got for now and worry about another starter come the trade deadline.