Dump Zito?

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Giants should release Barry Zito at the end of this season and eat the rest of Zito’s outrageous contract.

Rob Neyer writes that the Giants should wait until they really have somebody better.

Neyer’s right.  Zito is an enormous disappointment, but he’s still not terrible as No. 5 starters go.  Until the Giants truly have five starting pitchers better than Zito, it would be foolish to release him.  That likely won’t happen until the middle of next season, if and when Kevin Pucetas, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson are all aready.

Even then, it will be close.  The Giants certainly won’t bring Randy Johnson back for another season, given his  salary requirements.  The long-term prospects for Ryan Sadowski as an effective major league starter are still very much up in the air.

Neyer writes that Bumgarner is already ready for a promotion to the next level and might be good enough to skip AAA and go straight to the majors.  Bumgarner may be ready for AAA Fresno, but having him skip AAA entirely would be a huge mistake.  Given how relatively easy it is to put up big numbers at AA Connecticut, Bumgarner absolutely must make at least five starts at AAA Fresno to see how he does in conditions much closer to what he’d face in the majors than he’s currently facing in the AA Eastern League.

The Giants have to pay Zito either way, so there’s no point in releasing him until he’s now longer good enough to stay on the Giants’ 12 man pitching staff.  If and when the Giants find better starters, they should still try Zito out of the bullpen before giving up on him entirely.