Well, thumper, there's one issue with your plan. There is no 30 day DL, just 15 or 60. That's just a technicality, though, as you could stick him on the 15 day DL and leave him there for a month.
That's not going to fix Zito's problems, though. He's lost some velocity, and can't throw his curveball for strikes. The first isn't something that you can fix by practice -- he was borderline having enough velocity to pitch well in the first place, and when you go from 87-88 to 83-84, you're not going to succeed unless you're Jamie Moyer or Tim Wakefield. The second problem (curveball command) could possibly be fixed, but he's never been able to throw that curve for strikes. People have just learned to lay off it because it's never in the strike zone. Then they sit on 83 mph fastballs and 78 mph changes, and crush them. Zito's done. You can see the progression in his strikeout/walk numbers as hitters learned to stay away from the curve...his strikeout rate has been declining for around 5 years, and he's walking more batters. His career as a productive big league player is over.
|