Giants lefty Barry Zito has cleared waivers and is free to be traded to any team, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. As Heyman notes, however, Zito doesn't appear to be a trade candidate at this time.
The 35-year-old Zito is in the final season of a seven-year, $126MM contract with the Giants. The contract has been widely panned, and while Zito has had some respectable seasons in San Francisco, this hasn't been one of them. He's pitched to a 5.40 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. He's been outstanding at home for the Giants, totaling a 3.01 ERA In 71 2/3 innings, but he has an eye-popping 9.50 ERA away from AT&T Park, having allowed 44 earned runs in 41 2/3 frames.
Zito's contract contains an $18MM vesting option that would trigger if he were to reach 200 innings this season. That's extremely unlikely to happen, as he's 84 2/3 innings short of that mark. He's earning a whopping $20MM in 2013, of which about $5.14MM is remaining.
Because of his underwhelming performance and hefty salary, it seems likely that he will close out his massive contract with the Giants. Zito becomes the fifth player to reportedly clear waivers since the beginning of August.
