Barry Zito will no longer wear green and gold. I knew it was coming. I knew we were going to lose Z to some other team that was willing to seriously overpay for his services. Oh and overpay they did. Zito will don the Halloween uni of those clowns from across the Bay for the next seven years and $126 million bones.
I have such mixed feelings about this because I hate the Giants. Not as much as the Angels and Yankees, mind you, but I can't stand that team nonetheless. It was the Giants and their media whore KNBR that initially prompted me to start Athletics Nation. I was so tired of hearing about that team that I wanted somewhere that was Giant free.
Yet here we are full circle whereas I'm discussing the Giants on my haven for A's fans only. Still when the news struck me I found myself feeling those five stages of grief...
Denial: He CAN'T be signing with the Giants. Not that team. It can't be true. We can't be hearing the Giants dingleberry announcers (Jon Miller excluded) talking about Zito for 35 starts, can we? Is this happening? I'm dreaming and it's Vida Blue reincarnated...
Anger: I still hate those Giants. They're old, uncool and decrepit and yet they suddenly made themselves seem much cooler. I can't stand Zito for being money-grubbing and making it clear that he was going to the highest bidder no matter who it was. ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH.
Bargaining: Well, at least he isn't pitching for the Rangers or the Mariners and is in the National League (which will probably help his pitching stats significantly).
Depression: Ah, forget it, baseball is disgusting and full of money grubbers who have no sense of loyalty at all. I'm done and I'm going back to bed. Please don't wake me up until next November.
Acceptance: Zito is now the enemy. Plain and simple. I've loved the guy for years for that beautiful bender, but he's gone. Forever. He's now tainted orange and black and that's the facts.
Yes, I went through all of that today. It probably would've been a more drawn out feeling had I not known that Zito was already going. The Giants ridiculously overpaid for Zito, but they had to in order to get him and they apparently have the money. And that's the way the market for starting pitching is going, so who knows what kind of contracts starting pitchers will be getting next offseason that might make this contract look small.
At the same time, I'm kind of done with Zito. He's gone to the highest bidder and good for him. But that's his prerogative. It's also mine to decide to forget about the guy. Anyone want a Zito A's jersey cheap?
