At $18M per, he’s way overpriced. I like Barry Zito, but here are his stats for 2003-2006:

YEAR    G    IP     W   L   ERA   K/9
2003    35  231.2   14  12  3.30  5.67
2004    34  213.0   11  11  4.48  6.89
2005    35  228.1   14  13  3.86  6.74
2006    34  221.0   16  10  3.83  6.15

Yes, he has good numbers, but those numbers make him about 20th or so for K/9 and 10th for ERA. He’s a decent top tier pitcher, but this contract makes him the owner of the largest contract for a pitcher, ever. If he’s worth this, and he basically has had some awful postseason games, I don’t know what this does for Johan Santana and the hot youngsters when they come up to their free agent years. Alex Rodriguez may get a big weight taken off his shoulders soon, I think…