There are two stories today about big-ticket free agent pitchers who aren't living up to their massive contracts. Up in Canada, Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi gave an interview to a radio station and said that he thought some of A.J. Burnett's troubles could be psychological as opposed to physical. Burnett came off and then returned to the disabled list in a three day span last week but Ricciardi wonders if his head isn't a bigger problem than his elbow.
"I don't know if it's psychological. I don't know if ... he gets to a point where he feels something (and) he's so scarred from being hurt so many times that he just backs off...Which is fine. We've got no problem with that. We're not saying that the guy's not hurt, but maybe sometimes you get to a point in your career where you've got to pitch through some pain, pitch through some things that get you over the hump. He knows his arm better than I do. ... I guess it just comes down to the individual player."
In San Francisco, meanwhile, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is blaming Barry Zito's massive contract for his poor start as a member of the Bay Area's other club.
"I think, if anything, Barry has got to relax a little bit. I thing he's put added pressure on himself. Now that his numbers are not where they normally are, or what he's expected, he's added a little more pressure. This game is hard enough to perform. Now, I think he's overloaded himself with expectations and the pressure of being the pitcher he is. I think Barry just needs to lighten up a little bit and trust his stuff and throw strikes, and he'll be fine...Barry was signed because of who he is and the quality of pitcher he is, I sure hope he doesn't expect to go out and go 20-1 because of the contract. That's going to compound the damage a little bit when you're performing."
When the Jays signed A.J. Burnett before the 2006 season he had made 27 starts in three of his last five seasons. In 2003 and 2004, he made 23 starts combined. When he's healthy, he's pitched very well but he hasn't been healthy all that often. When you hand over $55 million dollars, American or Canadian, don't you think you should know what you're buying? Clearly Burnett's right arm is both talented and troubled and the expectation that it would all of sudden cease to be the latter is totally unreasonable. Ricciardi can point the finger at Burnett's makeup all he wants but it appears he didn't do his homework well enough before sinking a mountain of dough into a pitcher who had a track record of injury.
Zito, on the other hand, is performing at just about the same level he was when he was in Oakland if not a little bit better. He's striking out a half-batter per nine less than in Oakland but giving up fewer home runs, his walk rate is about the same as is his WHIP and his batting average and slugging percentage against are lower than they were last year. So what's wrong? Some bad luck may be to blame for an inflated ERA and this aging Giants team isn't so hot in the field but really the Giants got the pitcher that they overpaid this winter. Any in-depth look at his statistics from 2006 would tell you that Zito was luckier than the average pitcher last summer. He's been trending downward for years as his walks have gone up while his strikeouts dwindled and the Giants are just getting the latest chapter in this story. Blame the pressures of the contract if you like but the Giants got what they paid for whether they like it or not.
The good news is we've got him locked up for the next six seasons after this one!
Posted by: allonthefield | July 06, 2007 at 05:57 PM