Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito should trade contracts
Posted by: Richie Rich in Giants, Pitching
First of all, a big congratulations goes out to 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.
Lincecum (18-5, 2.62 ERA, 265 K) was one of the few bright spots for the San Francisco Giants this season, who simply couldn’t score runs (a mere 3.95 R/G) and slogged to a 72-90 record.
He was also one of the most cost-effective players in all of Major League Baseball – Lincecum finished 2nd in wins, 2nd in ERA, and 1st in Strikeouts in the National League. That’s nice return on a guy who was paid *only* $405,000 this season.
As a result of his stellar season and bright future, Lincecum should be rewarded by the Giants.
Immediately.
Why not give him his teammate Barry Zito’s contract? Zito sure as hell didn’t do anything to deserve the $14.5 MILLION he was paid in 2008.
We ragged on Barry Zito earlier this year when his Fathead poster went on clearance. Let’s do it again. Let’s compare their 2008 stats …
| 2008 | Salary | G | W-L | WPct | IP | HR | BB/K | ERA | K9 | BB9 | HR9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Lincecum | $405,000 | 34 | 18-5 | .783 | 227 | 11 | 3.15 | 2.62 | 10.51 | 3.33 | .44 |
| Barry Zito | $14,500,000 | 32 | 10-17 | .370 | 180 | 16 | 1.18 | 5.15 | 6.00 | 5.10 | .80 |
Let’s sum that up …
- The Giants paid Tim Lincecum $11,912 a game for 34 games – and the Giants went 22-12 in those games.
- The Giants paid Barry Zito $453,000 a game for his 32 games - and the Giants went 13-19 in those games.
Keep in mind the Florida Marlins paid their entire team $139,815 per game … and they won 84 games.
Only in Bizarro World would a guy with an MLB-most 17 losses and a 5.15 ERA be paid almost 36 times as much as a Cy Young winner who went 18-5 and challenged for the NL Triple Crown.
Hey – you can spell Bizarro out of Barry Zito. That’s downright … weird.
Bet you thought I was gonna say Bizarre, didn’t you?
Better luck next year, Barry.
Entries (RSS)
November 12th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Looking at Zito’s three year trending stats before the Giants signed him, it was easy to see he was going to be a disaster. He’s Shawn Estes redux – he was just a little bit better for a little bit longer.
Nice analysis. Maybe they can turn him into a lefty specialist, if nothing else.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:15 am
He’d be the most expensive lefty specialist … ever.
He’ll make $18.5 Million in 2009.
Something tells me he’ll be starting fr SF again next year. Hopefully he can turn it around. But that would require him to spend less time playing music.