The Highest Paid Reliever in Baseball

[jsmets92]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3372794

And they still have him through 2013

[sturg1dj]

haha


what makes me mad about this is that there are many people who blame Zito for taking the money!!

look at his numbers before he was signed, he had one dominating season and it was 5 years prior to that. San Fran and any other owners made the mistake of not making wise business decisions. Its not the players fault its the people who gave him the contract. He was never worth that money, not even in relative baseball numbers.

[KCW]

Everyone knew when the Giants signed him that he wasn't going to be worth the money. I don't think anyone could forsee him becoming this bad this quickly though.

[Mattingly]

Everyone knew when the Giants signed him that he wasn't going to be worth the money. I don't think anyone could forsee him becoming this bad this quickly though.

He simply was the biggest name in that off-season, and the Giants had a dose of "vintage George Steinbrenner spending spree" in them, so they decided to throw money at him like there was no tomorrow.

Let's see if he can at least perform as well as the 2nd highest paid reliever, who does happen to be paid by George: Mariano (8 saves, 0.00 ERA so far).

[Zito75]

Never thought I'd see Barry coming out of the pen. But man, has he been terrible lately. Maybe he needs to start doing yoga and carrying that teddy bear around again.

[BenHertz]

After Zito signed this outrageous contract, Johan Santana's price tag went through the roof, and ruined the Twins' chances of resigning him.

Great job inflating the prices, Zito!

[Zagi-CRO]

Zito had good numbers before signing a contract:
2006 16 10 3.83
2005 14 13 3.86
2004 11 11 4.48
2003 14 12 3.30
2002 23 5 2.75

[Old Sweater]

After Zito signed this outrageous contract, Johan Santana's price tag went through the roof, and ruined the Twins' chances of resigning him.

Great job inflating the prices, Zito!

Revenue sharing would have about took care of Santana's salary plus that multi millionaire owner of the Twins could open his wallet.

[The Splendid Splinter]

Revenue sharing would have about took care of Santana's salary plus that multi millionaire owner of the Twins could open his wallet.

Hahahaha I'm pretty sure he's a billionaire. I think he's the richest MLB owner at the moment.

[BenHertz]

Hahahaha I'm pretty sure he's a billionaire. I think he's the richest MLB owner at the moment.

I looked at the Forbes website, and his net worth is $3.1 Billion, while George Steinbrenner's is $1.3 Billion. I guess it's about the market size for Pohlad.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Carl-Pohlad_75UU.html

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_George-Steinbrenner-III_OJ49.html

[Brooklyn]

After Zito signed this outrageous contract, Johan Santana's price tag went through the roof, and ruined the Twins' chances of resigning him.

Great job inflating the prices, Zito!

You really blame Zito? i'm sure if your boss offered you more money, you'd turn it down because it might affect your companies bottom line?

I can't blame the players at all for going after the money. If the owners are throwing it around, anyone in their right mind would be grabbing it

[Dodgerfan1]

As a Dodger fan I'd like to laugh at the Giants for their apparently foolish move. I can't, though, for two basic reasons:

1) He may break out of his slump and become a quality starter again.

2) **cough!** Jason Schmidt **cough!**

[KCGHOST]

I don't think there was a pundit alive who didn't think the Zito signing was a bad one. Everything in his secondary stats said he was headed to mediocrity. The only hope they gave Barry was that he was going to a very big ballpark in which the ball does not carry well (except for another guy named Barry). Unfortunately that has just turned into more space for balls to land.

[redlegsfan21]

He simply was the biggest name in that off-season, and the Giants had a dose of "vintage George Steinbrenner spending spree" in them, so they decided to throw money at him like there was no tomorrow.

Let's see if he can at least perform as well as the 2nd highest paid reliever, who does happen to be paid by George: Mariano (8 saves, 0.00 ERA so far).

I thought Francisco Cordero was the highest paid reliever (who is not usually a starter).

[Captain Cold Nose]

I thought Francisco Cordero was the highest paid reliever (who is not usually a starter).

Cordero is not making $18M/Yr like the newly demoted Zito is. Thankfully.