San Francisco Giants: Is the Tumultuous Barry Zito Era Coming to an End?

The San Francisco Giants-Barry Zito marriage was doomed from the start.  It is possible that the divorce papers may be served soon?

Every time that Zito starts and fails miserably, it sparks speculation that the Giants may have finally seen enough and will cut ties with the beleaguered pitcher.  If they were to do so they would be accepting the fact that they would most likely be saddled with the remainder of his enormous contract as no team would claim him off waivers.

The Giants owe Barry Zito the prorated amount left on the $18.5 million he makes in 2011 and then the full amount of $19 million in 2012, $20 million in 2013 and the team buyout of $7 million for 2014. That is at least $36 million that they would be throwing away; but aren't they already throwing it away?

The fact that Zito is owed so much money will not change.  Whether he pitches well, pitches poorly, is on the DL, wastes away in the bullpen or is released, he is going to make the money.  Brian Sabean has been very aggressive in the past several weeks to make the Giants the best team possible as they head into the home stretch in defense of their title.

Barry Zito makes the Giants a worse team, everyone knows it.  It may appear that they can't afford to eat the remainder of Zito's contract, but in reality they can't afford to have him on the team. 

If they simply don't play him or create an injury so they can place him on the DL, or whether he plays the good teammate or not, his presence on the roster could potentially be detrimental to the fragile chemistry of this team—and chemistry is extremely vital heading down the home stretch of the season.

If they do create an injury, Zito most likely will not cause a problem.  Eventually something will have to be done. A DL stint can't fix an ineffective, past his prime starting pitcher; and they can't keep placing him on the DL because eventually that just becomes ridiculous.

At no other time during Zito's tenure on the Giants could they have seriously contemplated releasing Barry Zito. 

In my opinion, now that they are defending the World Series champions, they can and should bite the bullet and release Barry Zito.