A's call up veteran left-hander Zito

With the club sitting with a 62-83 record -- 15 1/2 games back in the AL West and 15 games back in the Wild Card race -- the Oakland A's don't have much to play for in the season's final month. But they just got a lot more interesting. 

The A's have brought up veteran left-hander Barry Zito from Triple-A Nashville, the club announced Wednesday. The move became possible when Oakland revealed Jesse Chavez had suffered a non-displaced rib fracture and would miss the rest of the season. The right-handed starter was put on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Zito on the 40-man roster while right-hander Cody Martin was also added to the big club. 

#Athletics select Barry Zito from Nashville, recall Cody Martin from Nashville, place Jesse Chavez on the 60-day DL

- Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) September 16, 2015

Zito spent seven seasons in the Majors with the A's from 2000-06 and was one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League during that stretch, going 102-63 with a 3.55 ERA in 222 starts over that time. He was a three-time All-Star and captured the AL Cy Young award in 2002, when he went 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA as a 24-year-old. The southpaw signed a seven-year, $126 million with the Giants ahead of the 2007 season but never found his form with the Giants, posting an ERA above 4.00 in each of his seven seasons with the club. After going 5-11 with a 5.74 ERA in 2013, he took 2014 off but was signed to a Minor League deal by the A's with an invitation to Major League Spring Training last February.

Prior to Wednesday's promotion, the 37-year-old spent the entire season at Triple-A Nashville and held his own in the offense-friendly Pacific Coast League, going 8-7 with a 3.46 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 91 strikeouts in 138 innings for the Sounds. Those numbers are somewhat skewed by a rough April (0-2, 5.96 ERA in five starts), and indeed, he posted a 2.88 ERA in 19 appearances (112 1/3 innings) from May onward. He last pitched Sept. 6, tossing a perfect inning of relief at Omaha in his return to the mound after having missed a month with shoulder tendinitis. 

Interestingly, Zito told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle on Sept. 5 that he wasn't going to be called up this month, saying, "I thought I did everything I could to get a call-up when I was going all right, but it just didn't work out. At least I know I gave myself the best chance I could."

The A's have not yet announced a specific role for Zito. Martin is taking Chavez's spot in the rotation Wednesday night in Chicago.