The San Francisco Giants Demote Barry Zito to the Bullpen, Should Demote Themselves Instead

Let's get some things straight: 1) Zito was never a hard-thrower and while the decline in his velocity is concerning, it was an inevitability, although the Giants were hoping the decline would come later rather than now. 2) Zito has never had good command of his fast ball. Even when Zito was at his best with Oakland, he was walking between 78 and 99 batters per season from 2001-06. That's a bad combination and I'm not even factoring in Zito pitching for an A's team with consistently strong defense behind him in his later years. At this point, hitters are just sitting on that fastball and things are getting ugly for the left-hander.