Results tagged ‘ Barry Zito ’

Los Angeles 9, San Francisco Giants 1: Time for Giants to get defensive

BOX SCORE

The box score will say Barry Zito had a quality start with three earned runs in 6 innings pitch.

But anyone who watched the Giants’ loss to the Dodgers know Zito deserved better.

Granted, Zito did spend some time dodging bullets in the early innings. But as he’s managed to do well this season, he was working his way out of trouble, instead of into big innings.

But Zito needed some help from his defense Tuesday, and did not get it.

In the third inning, Mark Ellis hit a one-out double to left. Zito walked Matt Kemp intentionally, and then Andre Ethier unintentionally (after starting him off 0-2 in typical Zito fashion).

But Zito looked like he’d get out of the inning when Juan Rivera hit a grounder right at Ryan Theriot. But instead of turning an inning-ending double play, Theriot bobbled the ball, and only got the out at first, allowing Ellis to score the game’s first run.

After the Giants tied the game in the top of the sixth, the defense helped give the lead back.

With one out, Bobby Abreu hit a slow chopper to third. A good third baseman like Pablo Sandoval makes the play and throws Abreu out. A weak-throwing third baseman like Conor Gillaspie does not. Abreu gets an infield hit.

After Jose Uribe walked, A.J. Ellis hit a bloop double to right that scored Abreu.

Then Tony Gwynn Jr. tried a safety squeeze that was too hard to Gillaspie to allow Uribe to score. But Gillaspie’s throw to first was off-line, and Uribe did score. Actually, Theriot was backing up the throw, but he failed to catch the ball cleanly. If he does, Uribe holds at third.

The Dodgers added another run in the seventh on a throwing error by pitcher Steve Edlefsen when he made the poor decision to try to throw out Matt Kemp at third, instead of getting the sure out at first.

An error by Buster Posey on a sacrifice bunt and Gillaspie’s inability to prevent a bunt single by Dee Gordon in the eighth set a five-run inning in motion.

Manager Bruce Bochy said the Giants defense “looked like we skipped spring training.” He and his staff even discussed putting the best defensive team on the field Wednesday — righty-lefty matchups be damned.

Well, it couldn’t hurt, especially with the way the Giants hitters are performing.

But here’s an interesting note about Clayton Kershaw.

Teams this year have stacked their lineups with righties against the left-handed Kershaw. Righties have 124 plate appearances in six games against Kershaw this year, compared to 24 by lefties.

Yet, righties are still hitting just .175 against him, while lefties are hitting .304.

The strikeout rate is much high among lefties (.360 to .202). But of the four home runs Kershaw has allowed this season, three have come from lefties.

Hey, it’s worth a shot. So if Bochy is honest about putting his best defensive team on the field Wednesday, this is how is should look.

  1. RF Gregor Blanco (I would rather put him in CF, but that won’t happen)
  2. 3B Joaquin Blanco
  3. LF Melky Cabrera
  4. C Buster Posey
  5. CF Angel Pagan
  6. 1B Brandon Belt
  7. 2B Emmanuel Burriss
  8. SS Brandon Crawford
  9. P Ryan Vogelsong

UP NEXT

Ryan Vogelsong takes the mound against Kershaw at 7:10 p.m. The game will be carried live by the MLB Network, if you dare to watch.

San Francisco Giants 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 3: Another quality start from Barry Zito

BOX SCORE

The San Francisco Giants have lost a pitcher they will play $8.5 million this season.

On the flip side, they actually get something out of a pitcher they still owe $46 million to.

Barry Zito threw his second quality start of the season, giving up two earned runs in seven innings Saturday and giving the Giants the chance to rally and beat the Pirates in the ninth inning.

Emmanuel Burriss scored on an error in the ninth inning to give the Giants their first walk-off win and reason to celebrate after the news that closer Brian Wilson is likely done for the year.

With the Giants’ talented and deep bullpen, the loss of Wilson can be weathered. But getting something out of Zito is huge for the Giants’ prospects this season.

We’ve seen Zito put together decent first-halves of the season or decent second-halves. But never a full season of success. So we take the early success with a grain of salt. But what we have seen is very encouraging.

Zito will make his next start Friday against the Mets in New York.

Giants 7, Rockies 0: With Barry Zito ‘anything’s possible’

BOX SCORE

If there’s one thing Giants fans have come to expect so far in the 2012 season, it’s the unexpected.

Backdropped against the prosect of the Giants possibly enduring their first 0-4 start since 1950, backdropped against the fact that Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain have ERAs of 8.44, 9.00 and 6.50, backdropped against a spring in which Zito was basically throwing batting practice in his final two outings, Barry Zito threw an absolute gem that goes beyond defying logic.

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all in baseball …” Aubrey Huff said without finishing his sentence.

He didn’t have to. Zito did all the finishing Monday.

The historic perspective is staggering.

  • It was Zito’s first complete-game shutout since 2003, four years before signing a $126 million deal with the Giants
  • It was Zito’s first complete game in which he did not issue a walk since his rookie season in 2000.
  • He became the first Giants pitcher to throw a shutout in the 18 year history of Coors Field.
  • He became the second visiting pitcher to throw a shutout at Coors in the past 13 seasons, joining Roy Oswalt.

“It was really satisfying,” Zito said. “I had a tough spring and made the adjustment I had to make, and I think my start in the minor leagues last week had a lot to do with it, just being able to work on stuff without worrying about getting guys out.”

Zito needed 112 pitches to get through nine innings. He only gave up four hits. With a couple of breaks, Zito could have taken a perfect game into the sixth inning, a no-hitter into the seventh.

In the third inning, Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin reached on a swinging bunt that Zito couldn’t get to in time to throw him out.

Marco Scutaro followed with a single up the middle that Zito should have snared. In the fourth, Troy Tulowitzki hit a shot to third base that glanced off Pablo Sandoval.

Did Zito think any of this was possible?

“Yeah sure,” Zito said. “I mean, anything’s possible.”

Almost lost in all the Zito excitement was the fact the Giants scored seven more runs and pounded out 10 more hits. Pablo Sandoval belted another homer, Aubrey Huff had a double and two walks, Hector Sanchez went 2 for 5 in his season debut, Brandon Crawford had a three-run triple. Every Giant collected at least one hit (including Zito) except Gregor Blanco.

The Giants are 1-3 despite outscoring opponents 21-17.

“Not a personal thing, but from a team standpoint, it feels great especially to win in the fashion we did,” Zito said. “We had good at-bats early. We just played good baseball overall today. It’s a good feeling to motivate us to keep it going.”
Sounds good to us.

UP NEXT

After a day off Tuesday, Tim Lincecum returns to the mound to face Jeremy Guthrie as the Giants face the Rockies at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Ten sure-fire ways the Giants can land Barry Zito on the disabled list

What are the Giants going to do with Barry Zito?

That’s the $19 million questions as the Giants prepare to break camp (it will be a $20 million question next year).

In the short term, the Giants will leave Zito in Arizona as they travel north Sunday for the Bay Bridge Series.
Zito pitched a bullpen session Sunday in which is was more upright, ditch much of the crouch that he had experimented with this spring.

He’ll pitch a minor league game Wednesday in Arizona instead of pitching against the A’s at AT&T Park.

But we have serious doubts that two bullpen sessions and one start against minor leaguers will provide enough time for Zito to convert himself from a pitcher who “was throwing BP” (as one scout put it) to a servicable No. 5 starter by April 9.

He’s clearly starting from scatch.

The best option right now is for the Giants is to find a way to put Zito on the DL to open the season to give him more time to get himself right (or as right as possible for Zito). Then find someone, like maybe Yusmeiro Petit, to fill Zito’s spot in the roster until Ryan Vogelsong and Erik Surkamp are ready to pitch.

Or they could just have a couple of bullpen games featuring Guillermo Mota and Clay Hensley. Heck, they’re carrying 12 pitchers to break camp.

In the meantime, they’ll need to find some acceptable reasons to put Zito on the DL. So we offer these suggestions:

  1. Have Jeremy Affeldt invite him over for a cookout so Affeldt can share his technique for separating frozen hamburger patties.
  2. Schedule exhibition with Tigers, have Zito throw at Prince Fielder …. one … more… time….
  3. Have the team doctor diagnose him with being a carrier of a contagious form of Tourette Syndrome. If MLB wants proof, just tell them that everytime Zito pitches, it causes 40,000 people to have uncontrollable outbursts of profanity.
  4. Have him wash Jeff Kent’s truck.
  5. Make Zito collect his next salary payment … in pennies.
  6. Have him take Joba Chamberlain’s kids trampoline jumping.
  7. Have Dan Runzler teach him proper batting technique to swing and miss and dislocate your knee.
  8. Battle fatigue. It’s reasonable after being shelled in his last two spring starts.
  9. Take Zito on a day trip over the border into Mexico and confiscate his identification papers. Then make him try to re-enter the country with falsified documents under the name of Leo Nunez.
  10. On DL for “left arm weakness.” Can anyone contest that diagnosis?

Padres 8, Giants 7: Barry Zito, world’s most expensive BP pitcher

BOX SCORE

It’s time to start worrying, Giants fans. Barry Zito may have hit a new low.

And for Zito, that’s saying something.

The San Diego Padres thumped the Giants pitcher for five runs on seven hits (five extra-base hits) and three walks in three innings.

And it took Zito 69 pitches to get through those three innings. He threw only 34 strikes.

Here’s how his outing went.

FIRST INNING

  • Cameron Maybin walked, then picked off first base
  • Orlando Hudson walked
  • Chase Headley lines out to right
  • Jesus Guzman doubles to left, Hudson scores
  • Nick Hundley doubles to left, Guzman scores
  • Kyle Blanks singles to left, Hundley scores
  • Chris Denorfria flies to right

 SECOND INNING

  • Everth Cabrera singles to right
  • Dustin Moseley sacrifices Cabrera to 2nd
  • Maybin grounds to short
  • Hudson flies to center

THIRD INNING

  • Headley grounds out to 2nd
  • Guzman walks
  • Hundley doubles to center, Guzman scores, Hundley out trying to advance to 3rd
  • Blanks doubles to left
  • Denorfria triples to center, Blanks scores
  • Cabrera grounds out to first

Zito recorded nine outs, but two were recorded on the basepaths and a third was recorded on a sacrifice (on a 3-0 pitch to the pitcher, thank you very much).

Zito finished Cactus League play allowing 15 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings. And his last two starts were his worst — 10 runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Zito has been battling himself and his new pitching mechanics all spring. And now, with the season looming, he’s looking to make more adjustments.

“It’s not ‘Scrap the whole thing,’ ” Zito said after Friday’s debacle. “It’s just make a small adjustment. … It’s about starting tomorrow morning with (pitching coach Dave Righetti), finding out what the adjustment is and go with it.”

Everything Zito threw was up in the zone. And when it’s up and coming in at 74-82 mph, it’s going to get clubbed.

“It’s funny how when everything is up, it seems everything is off-kilter,” Zito added. “But it’s one click.”

Sounds more like a cha-ching to us, like $19 million this season, $20 million next season, then a $7 million buyout in 2014. And that’s not funny at all.

Zito has just one more preseason start coming, next Wednesday at AT&T Park against the A’s — and two more bullpen sessions — before the start of the season.

So unless Zito develops some kind of ailment like bicep tendinitis (that’s what Jonathan Sanchez had when he stunk it up last season) or some other ailment, it looks as if he’ll be on the mound on April 9 at Colorado for his 2012 debut.

And by the looks of things, it won’t be pretty.

White Sox 5, Giants 2: Barry Zito and his downhill plane

BOX SCORE

Well, that was a very Barry Zito-like outing.

While Zito has had some good moments this spring, Sunday’s game against the White Sox was not one of them.

Zito gave up five runs (all earned) on nine hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings.

“The ball was up in the zone,” Zito said. “I’ve been harping on getting the ball dow, throwing in a downhill plane. Today I was just rushing my body and the arm couldn’t catch up. Downhill plane is everything.”

Well, Giants fans know all to well about Zito and his downhill plane.

Zito’s outing is worth a second look (perhaps not for those with weak stomachs).

It started well enough, with Alejandro De Aza striking out. But then came a double to Brent Lillibridge, a walk to Adam Dunn and an RBI single by Paul Kornerko. However, Dunn helped the Giants out by trying to take third on the play and was thrown out by Melky Cabrera.

Then came another walk to AJ Pierzynski. A single to Alex Rios loaded the bases. Then Zito got out of the mess by striking out Dayan Viciedo.

So the first inning line was 1 run on three hits and two walks.

Gordon Beckham opened the second with a double and took third on a single by Eduardo Escobar to open the second. De Aza bunted Beckham home for the second run of the game and first out of the inning. Lillibridge grounded out and Dunn struck out.

Konerko opened the third with a single, then Pierzynksi homered to left. Rios made it back-to-back by homering to left. Viciedo grounded out, but Beckham’s double to left brought the hook for Zito.

Zito threw 60 pitches in the game, then threw another 25 in the bullpen after getting pulled.

“Just give us a chance to win,” manager Bruce Bochy said of the expectations of Zito this season. “He got knocked out today. That’s what we want to stay away from. He never got settled in. Every inning was a struggle for him. If (Cabrera) didn’t make that play in the first inning, I don’t think he gets out of that inning.”

Despite seeing his spring ERA jumping from 4.50 to 6.61, Zito is in no danger of losing his spot in the rotation.

“He was out of sync,” Bochy said. “He couldn’t get the ball where he wanted. He just didn’t have it today. You don’t like to see it when you get this close to the season, but it’s going to happen, and better now than during the season.”
I guess.

Charting Zito starts this spring, his next start should come Friday against the Padres, then April 4 at AT&T Park against the A’s in the preseason finale. That would align him to make his first start of the season on April 9 at Colorado, assuming Ryan Vogelsong starts the season on the DL.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

A late-spring road game meant most regulars did not play against the White Sox. And the ones that did, didn’t do much (Gregor Blanco 0 for 3, Nate Schierholtz 0 for 3, Melky Cabrera 0 for 2 with a walk, Brett Pill 0 for 4).

NEXT UP

Ryan Vogelsong will get the start and aim to make 40 pitches as the Giants face the Royals at 1:05 p.m. Monday.

Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3: Good and bad from Zito

BOX SCORE

A little more than two weeks from opening day, the Diamondbacks and Giants met in a mini-preview of the season-opening meeting.

Both teams put out lineups that looked a lot like they might on April 6.

Barry Zito made 83 pitches, the most of any Giants starter this spring. That’s the most important stat. The other numbers were mixed.

He walked four and gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings.

Much of the bad numbers came in a rough first inning.

The game opened with a bunt single by Willie Bloomquist. Zito then gave up a two-run homer to Gerardo Parra. Two batters, two runs. Zito went on to walk two batters in the inning, but a double play helped him escape further damage.

In the second, he gave up a leadoff double to Cody Ransom, who was sacrifice to third and scored on a sac fly by Bloomquist.

But after that, Zito manage to put up three zeros in the next three innings. If he had managed a fourth, that would have been a quality start — the best of what Giants fans can hope for from Zito.

“He got better as he went,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He started locating better, getting a better rhythm there. Earlier he got some balls up, and he wasn’t quite hitting his spots. But he threw good his last couple of innings.”

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

  • OF Angel Pagan continued an uneven spring by going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. Meanwhile, OF Gregor Blanco, who was a late addition to the lineup for the injured Nate Schierholtz, was 1 for 3 with a walk and two more stolen bases. Pagan was batting leadoff, and Blanco in the No. 6 spot. Hmmmmm. But, again, Blanco was a late add, and was just plopped into Schierholtz’s spot in the lineup.
  • C Buster Posey was back behind the plate. He went 1 for 2 with a walk.
  • OF Melky Cabrera continue to hit, going 2 for 4.
  • The Giants had eight hits, seven singles. The lone double was from Ryan Theriot, who was 1 for 2 with a walk as he continues to heat up from a very slow start. Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle had a nice blog post on Theriot. I knew Theriot’s contract was a non-guaranteed one. I was not aware that Fontenot’s also was not guaranteed. To see the full post, click here.

UP NEXT

It’s Eric Surkamp’s turn to take the hill as the Giants face the Indians at 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the MLB Network.

Giants’ Zito finds new Brewer to plunk

GIANTS 13, BREWERS 3

BOX SCORE

ANGELS 9, GIANTS 5

BOX SCORE

 

Well, it wouldn’t be spring training if Barry Zito didn’t hit a Brewer with a pitch.

The past two springs Zito plunked Prince Fielder with pitches (one intentional, one less-than-so). But with Fielder gone to the Tigers, Zito plunked Nyger Morgan with a pitch in the second inning.

Considering that Morgan is a much smaller target than Fielder, Zito’s control is clearly getting better.

“It was a curveball, so I mean sometimes you just throw through it,” Zito said of the pitch that plunked Morgan on the helmet. Morgan stayed in the game through the end of the inning, then left as a precaution.

Besides the hit-by-pitch, Zito gave up just one hit — an infield hit at that — no walks and one strikeout in three innings of work. He might have come out and pitched some in the fourth if the Giants hadn’t batted around for an eight-run inning.

Despite the solid results, Zito was mildly critical of his outing.

“I felt like I could’ve been better being down in the zone with the fastball,” Zito said. “If you look at strike ratio and how many balls were down in the zone, today was not as good as last game. But there were other positives today.”

Zito threw 30 of his 45 pitches for strikes, compared to 28 of 35 pitches for strikes last Tuesday.

Also, the Brewers’ lineup did not include the likes of Rickie Weeks, Aramis Ramirez or Ryan Braun.

Well, it doesn’t matter whose in the lineup, we’ll take three scoreless innings from Zito any day. And the plunking of the mouthy Tony Plush was just a bonus.

That makes consecutive scoreless outings from Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain and Zito.

Now if we can get the Lincecum kid to come around ….

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS 

  • 3B Pablo Sandoval went 2 for 4 with a double and home run in the Brewers game. He also whiffed twice.
  • 2B Ryan Theriot got things going with the bat, going 2 for 2 with a double, walk and two runs.
  • C Tommy Joseph continues to impress, going 2 for 3 with two home runs and 4 RBI. To read more on Joseph, click here.
  • SS Brandon Crawford, who worked on shortening his swing in the offseason, continues to swing a hot bat, going 2 for 3 with a double, triple and 3 RBI.
  • P Justin Fitzgerald gave up 3 runs on five hits in 2/3 of inning. The other six pitchers gave up no runs on four hits and no walks in 8 1/3 innings. They included Guillermo Mota, Sergio Romo, Steve Edlefsen and Hector Correa.
  • The lineup in the split-squad at Tempe against the Angels was comprised mostly of younger players. But two veterans had nice games. 1B Aubrey Huff went 2 for 3 with a home run.
  • Freddy Sanchez, playing DH vs. the Angels, went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Manager Bruce Bochy said Sanchez won’t play a game in the field until Wednesday at the earliest.

UP NEXT

Brian Wilson will make his spring debut and pitch an inning as the Giants take on the Mariners in Scottsdale. Eric Surkamp will get the start for the Giants and Buster Posey is slated to catch four innings. He reported no soreness after catching two innings on Friday.

Can the Giants afford to pay both Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum?

Barry Zito, right, walks in with Tim Lincecum to Giants spring training. Zito could factor into the Giants signing Lincecum and Matt Cain to long-term deals. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum? That seems to be the million dollar question for the Giants this spring. Can they afford both?

Many believe the answer is no. Eric Byrnes and John Hart said as much last month when Tim Lincecum signed his two-year, $40.5 million deal.

General manager Brian Sabean said yes.

“We’ll have enough wherewithal in the budget to sign both players,” Sabean said in early February.

But how can this be, when Cain and Lincecum could end up costing the Giants $50 million a season, or more?

Well, let’s call it the Zito/Rowand Factor.

For the past four seasons and into 2012, the Giants have spent at least $30 million a season for Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand and received little in return. In 2013, that figure will drop to $20 million (just Zito). In 2014, it will just be Zito’s $7 million buyout.

If the Giants can afford to spend more than $64 million on Zito, Lincecum, Cain and Rowand in 2012, they can afford to give Cain as much as $22 million in 2013 with Rowand’s $12 million coming off the board. In 2014, Zito’s contract comes off the board.

So, the Giants should easily be able to sign Lincecum and Cain for less than $64 million a season.

Not only that, but other contracts come off the board after 2012. Aubrey Huff ($10 million), Freddy Sanchez ($6 million), Jeremy Affledt ($5 million), Angel Pagan ($6 million) and Melky Cabrera ($4.85 million) are among the Giants who will be eligible for free agency after this season.

But there are other factors. Brian Wilson is eligible for his final year of arbitration in 2013. Buster Posey will be arbitration-eligible in 2013. Madison Bumgarner also could possibly join him. Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla are also arbitration-eligible.

Cain said on Saturday that he want to settle on a contract extension by the start of the season and is seeking “fair value.”

But what is fair value?

The Giants reportedly offered Lincecum a five-year, $100 million offer, which he rejected before agreeing to the two-year, $40.5 million deal.

MoreSplashHits thinks that offer was more designed for Cain than Lincecum. The Giants offered it knowing Lincecum would turn it down. Then they could turn and make a similar offer to Cain.

The fact that Cain hasn’t nibbled yet indicates he could be seeking more — perhaps along the lines of the five-year, $120 million deal Cliff Lee got from the Phillies last year.

Barry Zito is not as terrible as everyone says

Now, there’s a blog headline that will surely attract some attention.

It’s a point that has risen to the surface Monday after the Giants traded away Jonathan Sanchez. Well, many Giants were glad to part ways with the enigmatic Sanchez, their second thought was “Oh, that means Zito is our No. 5 starter.”

But, at  the risk of exposing myself to the wrath of fellow bloggers and online commentators, I am going to take a rather unpopular stand on the Giants letfy.

Now, when any Giants fan thinks about Zito, one thing comes to mind — He has completely underperformed during his seven-year, $140 million contract.

Now, there’s no doubt Zito has not pitched anywhere close to the value of his contract. That’s a given. However, that contract is guaranteed. That money is spent.

It’s like Aaron Rowand. Even though he’s been cut by the Giants, his $12 million contract for 2012 is still on the team’s payroll.

So Giants fans have to stop measuring Zito against the $19 million he’s set to make in 2012 or the $20 million he’ll get in 2013. It serves no purpose.

The question they need to ask on question: Can Zito be a functional No. 5 starter in the Giants’ rotation?

I believe the answer is yes. And I also believe I have the numbers to support that claim.

The first thing I did was throw the 2011 season. Zito was never 100 percent healthy, from the car accident just prior to opening day to the ankle injury that derailed him for two months then was aggravated in July.

The injuries limited Zito to nine starts, which is not a large sample size. For example, if you removed Zito’s worst start — when he gave up 8 run in 3 2/3 innings in his first start after ther All-Star break — his season ERA drops by one run.

Instead, I looked at his 2009 and 2010 numbers. Why? Because they were practically identical.

Then I looked at the No. 5 pitchers of the five NL teams that finished with better records than the Giants. And I didn’t just look at the guy who took the fifth turn in the rotation. I looked at their fifth-worst pitcher.

In some case, like the Cardinals and Braves, it was one pitcher — Jake Westbrook and Derek Lowe. For the others teams, it was a combination of pitchers.

For the Phillies, it was Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton. For the Brewers, it was Chris Narveson and the three late-season starts by Marco Estrada. For the Diamondbacks, it was smorgasbord of Micah Owings, Zach Duke, Armando Gallaraga, Wade Miley, Jason Marquis and Jarrod Parker.

Here are the numbers:

Barry Zito: 33 starts, 196 IP, 4.09 ERA, 1.35 WHIP

Cardinals: 33 starts, 183 IP, 4.66 ERA, 1.53 WHIP

Diamondbacks: 32 starts, 170 IP, 4.92 ERA, 1.51 WHIP

Braves: 34 starts, 187 IP, 5.05 ERA, 1.51 WHIP

Phillies: 31 starts, 177 IP, 4.02 ERA, 1.38 WHIP

Brewers: 31 IPs, 179 IP, 4.17 ERA, 1.33 WHIP

Zito in 2009-10 had a WHIP that was only behind the Brewers’ No. 5 starter. He had an ERA that’s only behind the Phillies No. 5, which includes 23 starts from Roy Oswalt.

So spending $3-4 million on a free agent pitcher to push Zito in the spring — as some have suggested — is not the way to go. Better to spend that money on improving the defense.

Instead, the Giants should go find a veteran pitcher who will sign a minor-league deal as insurance next spring in case of another injury or Zito implosion. This is what they did in 2009 with Todd Wellemeyer and 2010 with Jeff Suppan.

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