Keep the checkbook open, Hendry
Why is this man smiling? Because Barry Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million dollar contract with the San Francisco Giants today. Holy mother-of-crap is that a lot of money. Zito's a solid number 2, if not number 3. Five years ago, he was awesome. Since then, not so much. Don't get me wrong, Zito is certainly better than Ted Lilly, but not that much better. If Zito is worth $18 million a year for 7 years then Lilly looks like a bargain at 4/$40. Anyways, this post isn't here to compare Zito to Lilly. It's to compare Zito to another Z. Carlos Zambrano.
Zambrano is set to become a free agent after the 2007 season. At 25, he's three years younger than Zito and has been far more productive over the last four seasons than Zito. If Zambrano isn't one of the top five pitchers in baseball, he's certainly in the top ten. Zito might be top thirty. Granted, Zambrano has never had a season as strong as Zito's 2002, but that was a long time ago and Zito is unlikely to ever approach those numbers again. Zambrano's slope trends upward, and he hasn't reached his peak.
So what is Zambrano now worth? In this age of crazy free agency dollars, nothing surprises me anymore. If someone signed a 15-year, $1-billion-dollar contract, I wouldn't be surprised. I'd simply say "who's the lucky bastard?" and "who's the sucker?" But no, I wouldn't be surprised.
If Hendry was smart, he'd be on the phone with Zambrano's agent yesterday. Carlos, I want to make YOU the centerpiece of the Cubs franchise for the next eight years. Here's $160 million dollars. What, is Carlos going to turn that down? Too much money, you say? By next year, that could be a bargain. He might get $200 million from the Yankees. Sign him now, while you still can. After all, it's not your money. It's the Trib's. And you probably won't be here in three years anyways if he busts his arm and the deal turns sour.
Make it happen, Hendry. Before it's too late.