Barry Zito will try to resurrect his career at the place where it began.
The 36-year-old left-hander, who did not pitch last year, agreed to a minor league deal with the Oakland A’s on Monday. Zito will receive an invitation to the Athletics’ major league spring camp, which opens Thursday for pitchers and catchers.
“I just want to pitch,” Zito told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I love baseball. I want to enjoy the game.”
According to several media reports, Zito would make a $1 million salary if he is on the major league roster, with the opportunity for an additional $175,000 in incentives.
Zito spent 2000-06 with Oakland, winning the American League Cy Young Award after going 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA in 2002. Zito posted a 102-63 record and a 3.55 ERA and was a three-time All-Star in seven seasons with the A’s. Then he signed a seven-year, $126 million free agent deal with the San Francisco Giants before the 2007 season.
By most measures, Zito was an enormous with the Giants, but the team did win two World Series during his stay. He went 62-80 with a 4.62 ERA for San Francisco, finishing with a winning record just once in the seven years.
In his most recent big league action, Zito went 5-11 with a 5.74 ERA in 30 games (25 starts) in 2013.
“I knew in August of 2013 I was going to take a year off,” Zito told the Chronicle. “I had a lot of things I wanted to work on, and I went to see Ron (Wolforth, an independent trainer in Houston) for a couple of days last September, and he impressed in every area. It was a great place to stay focused.”
Regarding his spring tryout, Zito told the newspaper, “I’ll let my pitching speak for itself — or not speak for itself. Talk is cheap. We’ll see what happens when it happens.”