The Oakland A's haven't closed the door on former ace Barry Zito's comeback bid with the organization, sending him to Triple-A Nashville after Sunday's exhibition loss to the SF Giants at O.Co Coliseum.
It was a assignment that the 36-year-old Zito accepted as part of the process of his comeback.
"I didn't stay in shape for a year to come back here and go all in and go sit at home. Why should I rush to go sit at home?" Zito said. "A lot of the retired guys that I've talked to that I've played with over the years, I think they ended up bitter in the end and they kind of rushed into that. A lot of the guys I talked to regretted that they didn't just keep going, put your pride aside and go play baseball."
If and when Zito returns to the big league club, he already has at least one fan on the roster in catcher Stephen Vogt.
"What a great person. He's just such an unbelievable person," Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt said.
Zito had a solid spring marred by just one bad outing, but the team's depth up and down the pitching staff was enough to squeeze him off the MLB roster for now.
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