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Barry Zito to sign minor league deal with Oakland Athletics - ESPN
Former Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito will sign a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics that includes an invite to major league camp, assistant general manager David Forst told the Bay Area News Group, confirming multiple media reports.
Zito will receive a $1 million base salary if he makes Oakland's big league roster, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.
Zito, 36, took a year off to travel, surf and enjoy life away from baseball, but agent Scott Boras told reporters at the MLB general managers' meetings in November that Zito was looking to make a comeback.
Boras said then that Zito was hoping to return to the majors as a starter in 2015. Zito moved to Houston in September and had been working out daily with that goal in mind, Boras said.
"He called me on the phone in August and said, 'I'm ready to go. I want to pitch,'" Boras said. "He set up the plan and did all of that."
Zito, a first-round draft pick by Oakland in 1999, went 165-143 with a 4.02 ERA over 14 seasons with the Athletics and San Francisco Giants. He made three All-Star teams and enjoyed his best season in 2002, when he posted a 23-5 record with a 2.75 ERA for Oakland to beat out Pedro Martinez for the American League Cy Young Award.
Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with San Francisco in December 2006. He went 63-80 with a 4.62 ERA as a Giant and was generally regarded as a major disappointment, but Boras said that notion is inaccurate because Zito helped the team win two World Series.
"You hear honest and valued owners say, 'You know, Barry Zito's contract was wonderful, because we won two world championships. We hired a hen to sit on our eggs of ([Matt] Cain, [Tim] Lincecum and [Jonathan] Sanchez, and look where our system is because we had a guy who could take on the No. 1 role for a couple of years and put us in that position,'" Boras said.
Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder led Oakland to three AL West titles and four straight postseason berths as the team's acclaimed big three from 2000 to 2003.
Zito will receive a $1 million base salary if he makes Oakland's big league roster, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.
Zito, 36, took a year off to travel, surf and enjoy life away from baseball, but agent Scott Boras told reporters at the MLB general managers' meetings in November that Zito was looking to make a comeback.
Boras said then that Zito was hoping to return to the majors as a starter in 2015. Zito moved to Houston in September and had been working out daily with that goal in mind, Boras said.
"He called me on the phone in August and said, 'I'm ready to go. I want to pitch,'" Boras said. "He set up the plan and did all of that."
Zito, a first-round draft pick by Oakland in 1999, went 165-143 with a 4.02 ERA over 14 seasons with the Athletics and San Francisco Giants. He made three All-Star teams and enjoyed his best season in 2002, when he posted a 23-5 record with a 2.75 ERA for Oakland to beat out Pedro Martinez for the American League Cy Young Award.
Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with San Francisco in December 2006. He went 63-80 with a 4.62 ERA as a Giant and was generally regarded as a major disappointment, but Boras said that notion is inaccurate because Zito helped the team win two World Series.
"You hear honest and valued owners say, 'You know, Barry Zito's contract was wonderful, because we won two world championships. We hired a hen to sit on our eggs of ([Matt] Cain, [Tim] Lincecum and [Jonathan] Sanchez, and look where our system is because we had a guy who could take on the No. 1 role for a couple of years and put us in that position,'" Boras said.
Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder led Oakland to three AL West titles and four straight postseason berths as the team's acclaimed big three from 2000 to 2003.
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