Left-handed veteran Barry Zito is accepting his assignment to Triple-A Nashville, according to an ESPN.com report on Saturday.

The 36-year-old didn't work his way back from a year out of baseball only to stop his comeback bid now just because he didn't make the A's opening-day roster.

"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."