Jonah Keri makes the case for the Yankees trading with the Giants for Barry Zito. The only flaw in the argument is that Barry holds a full no-trade clause. He would need to be convinced that he’s better off pitching for the Yankees than the Giants. Having spent his entire career in the bay area, and pitching for the current World Champions, I don’t see the advantage the Yankees offer. He’d face better hitters in the AL East and tougher ballparks, not to mention the DH. There’s no reason for him to leave the west coast.
As a Yankee fan, I think with Pettite now officially gone its the time to try out all these great young arms we have been hearing about. All we need is just one of them to stick. or better yet maybe we can have 2 of them come up get hot, look promising and then trade them for felix hernadez or some other stud pitcher in his 20s.
“I don’t see the advantage the Yankees offer. He’d face better hitters in the AL East and tougher ballparks, not to mention the DH. There’s no reason for him to leave the west coast.”
I suppose you could argue that he’d also gain a better offense behind him. The Giants have averaged 4.1 RPG in the last three years and the Yankees 5.3 in the same time span. If Zito’s ERA even increased by a full run, he’d still come out a bit ahead.
The Giants might be the current World Champs, but the Yankees are almost certainly more likely a future Championship team…
I don’t think you can underestimate the pull of the New York limelight. especially for younger players… Plus he might think he needs to prove himself and New York is the place to do it. I hope he stays in SF or possible heads south to LA or Sad Diego!
Didn’t Zito get left off the playoff roster this year – being on the World Champs is less of a selling point if you are still watching the playoffs on TV