Morris dumped like garbage. LaRoche next?
By Jake • Apr 27th, 2008 • Category: Feature Story
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(Stats above through 4/26/08)
It’s really hard to understand the Pirates decision to release Morris. Hell, if we were going to release garbage, then Dumatriat and Duke should have been already out the door… and Bautista, and many others in this organization.
The sad part about the Morris release is that we just replaced him in the rotation with player who is a -90 earned runs guy to Morris, all things being equal, and that’s after Morris’ starts and Dumatriat’s great pen work this year. Then in the pen, Dumatriat’s replacement (JvB) is all but certain to be much worse than Dumatriat’s work has been.
But most fans and the media don’t understand those parts - they just see Morris out there getting hammered every five days and they see Dumatrait coming in and getting outs (the hero!) after the game is blown out while the other team is back on their heels with a huge lead.
So I wonder, when/if Dumatrait gets rocked, do we then release him? How about when Burnett comes up and he hemorrhages in massive blowouts, does he get released too? Or if JvB gives up five runs in two innings in relief every game, do we release him?
How about if we take it one step farther - right hand batters are feasting on Ian Snell to the tune of nearly 1.000 OPS. Do we release him? How about LaRoche and his measley two extra base hits in April, not to mention his .130 batting average? Release him? Then there is Freddy Sanchez who has cost us quite a few runs this year with his poor defense, is hitting .170 at PNC, sixteen of his nineteen hits are singles, and he has a .518 OPS. Heck, we need to release him too. Right? I mean, garbage is garbage.
And don’t forget, the Pirates won three of Morris’ last seven decisions in 2007 which was better than Snell, Duke, or Gorzelanny.
For now I’ll assume there is more to the Morris story than the fans are hearing - perhaps he’s just not interested in continuing to pitch for what is supposed to be a major league baseball team yet they religiously allow one unearned run for every three earned runs he gives up helping to fuel blowouts? I mean, how extremely frustrating. One media report said Morris was drained - the competitive fire gone. Heck if my defense did that to me, I’d be pretty damn drained too.
Of course, Morris could just plain have opened the year with an unhealthy arm and has been pitching through it quietly like any old-school pitcher would. Who knows.
But as I said Saturday night, this is more of a reflection on Neal Huntington than Matt Morris. Huntington surely could have dealt Morris over the winter if he ate most of his contract, Huntington has refused to reign in Jeff Andrews and insane pitch counts we’ve been witness to, and Huntington refuses to take any responsibility - every time it’s the player’s fault.
As fans, we thought we hit rock bottom when Littlefield was fired but are now finding out the pit is much deeper than any of us had considered. In fact, it’s very probable we’re only halfway down right now the way management is handling this team.
75 wins? Forget it. 65 wins? A pipe dream now. 55 wins? I think you’re getting pretty close. It’s going to be a very ugly year from here on out.
Jake is a contributing writer at Bucco Blog, a fan blog covering the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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haha you are so off the wall…i guess you can see the future on how dumatrait, jvb, and burnett will do. Last year JVB and Burnett were coming off surgeries. Give them a chance, certainly better than letting Morris get hammered every 5. They are former 1st round pick, we may as well see if they can finally live up
it was time…I think it hurts the whole team and the fans when you send out a guy every fifth day knowing it was going to be a rough day and an almost certain loss. At least there is hope with JvB and Dumatrait, hope of the unknown for sure, but hope at least.
Our choices for a replacement to Morris are all inferior players who are going to give up the ship, so I don\’t see what Jeff above sees. Maybe we\’ll get lucky and one of them will step forward?
I am not sure how you can defend morris and try to think of any good reasons that they should have kept trotting him out there every five days. that $10 mil or whatever it is he is getting was dead money whether he pitched or not. i would rather see a younger arm get an opportunity. I\’m not sure i agree with putting dumatrait in the rotation, he was doing fairly well in his role, as we JVB down in AAA. now dumatrait needs to adjust his arm to being a starter, and JVB has to adjust to being in relief.
As far as huntington dealing morris in the winter, i dont think anyone thought morris would tank this bad, so in hindsight obviously it\’s easy to say he should have dealt him for, heck a box of baseballs at the time, if he knew how bad it would turn out.
Jake,
I used to love reading your blogs and features, but I can\’t do it anymore. You can\’t give credit where credit is due. You overanalyze Doumit\’s catching abilities. The fact is, his catching is no worse than Paulino\’s, and he can swing a nasty stick. Your tone has become so negative in every post. I also think you are full of shit when it comes to your trade rumors. Whoever your source is sucks, so you\’ll need to look for a new one. I also don\’t like the fact that you bash Dejan all of the time.
Again, the pessimism in your posts is downright astounding.
Morris, albeit seemingly a good guy who takes responsibility for his poor performance, has zero business being on any MLB roster right now. I\’ll gladly take my chances with anyone else in the rotation.
I’ll bet you $100 Dumatrait will not have a 9.08 ERA as you so confidently and knowingly project.
I hear ya Aaron!
Looks like Matt is on his monthly Jake. And where the guy above me thinks you projected Dumsquat to have a 9.08 ERA is baffling.
I liked having Morris around to keep innings off our younger pitchers who need to continue to develop as you once mentioned. Morris was a victim of circumstances, I agree. But his abilities put him in that position too.
None of us know how any of the young guns are going to do but we all know none of them have big league credentials and that can\’t spell anything good down the line. Larry above said maybe one will step up. Let\’s hope he\’s right.
We’ll also win at least 65 games which you believe is just a “pipe dream”. I guess 85% of Pirates fans are clearly wrong to believe the team can go 65-97 at minimum. They will and to think otherwise is just ridiculous.
I only read this blog to get detailed rundowns of games as I’m an out of town fan. Not sure if I can continue to read the crazed thoughts and writings of someone so unbelievably negative about their team.
I honestly don’t know how you’re not managing this team by now Jake. You seem to know everything.
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Edit by Jake - hey thanks Aaron - maybe I’ll get a shot since you think I have the credentials! Keep up the shouts, Jake
Jake,
Puh-leez. Morris openly admits his velocity was way, way down. Sure the defense has been poor but it\\\\\\\’s the same for all the pitchers.
It takes guts to do what the Pirates did. Kuddo\\\\\\\’s to them. They are replacing an error by a previous administration. Morris is a class act. He shouldn\\\\\\\’t have been traded for in the first place as virtually every baseball man said at the time.
This administration values performance and that is a positive step. Morris simply became noncompetitive. The Bluejays released Frank Thomas for poor performance also. Good organizations do this when necessary.
Jake you are crazy, you just go against popular opinion on every single issue just to get a rise out of people. The new front office is cleaning up the mess left behind from the Littlefield regime, and I for one like it. We arent going anywhere this season, why not give our young guys a shot. What good is a past his prime 10 million dollar man? From what I hear he isn\’t some great clubhouse guy showing the young guys the ropes like Maddux is out on the west coast. With Morris, it was time to cut our losses. I read your blog daily, but your negativity is really getting old. I know there arent a whole lot of positives right now with this franchise, but there are some, and your boy nasty nate mcclouth is definitely one of them.
i am looking at this organization like a cousin who is hooked on meth. you need to let him hit rock bottom before he will decide to make his life better. that\’s what the pirates need….they need to lose 120+ games so they will finally look at themselves and change things.
p.s.
love the guys that keep saying they are not coming back to the sight…..then do….just to post another response about how they are not coming back. the truth hurts sometimes huh?
Jake, you just keep telling the story the way you see it and let the hammerheads that don’t like it move on. Keep up the good work.
I’m one fan that is glad Morris is gone and still see your argument that keeping Morris meant fewer innings placed on guys who aren’t ready or any good. I also don’t buy into the thought that the new guys are now doing the right thing by letting Morris go. If they believed that was even possible, they should have traded him for a song and a dance in December, not be stuck in April.
I\’M IN AGREEMENT WITH PITT, YOU ROCK JAKE!
I disagree with the other Jason when he says that no one knew Morris would tank this bad. Every message board I go to (except Jake\’s) knew exactly what was coming.
Jake - this is your worst effort yet. To not see the difference between Morris and some of the other players you mentioned (Sanchez, Laroche, etc.) is beyond ridiculous. Although I agree the other pitchers probably won\’t succeed either.
Some of the comments have a rather comical touch considering this is Jake\’s blog and not USA Today. Is everyone so in awe that they hang on every word said? First time commenter Jake. Your daily jolt of Pirates java guides my thoughts and I\’m immensely in debt to you for that. However unlike others here, they do not control me. Try to keep the balance, keep the faith, and certainly keep up the fabulous work.
Hard to choose the worst blog entry this year, since a lot of them have been painful to read, but I think this is probably it. The man just f\’n retired. Morris is done. Toast. There was no reason to keep him. And yeah, part of it also is symbolic. Damn right it is. If you don\’t see why, then you really need to get out of the business of writing about the Pirates. You can\’t really be this dense.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/how-good-is-your-4-starter/
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=takethefifthexaminingbot&prov=tsn&type=lgns
Funny thing, Morris\’ ERA quoted above (last 220 innings Jake?) is better than 23 of 30 team\’s #5 starter ERA in 2007 and 25 of 30 teams in 2006, not to mention 5 of 30 team\’s #4 guy. Add four more ER to Gorz this year and you have Matt Morris; add five more to Sabathia and you get Morris; and Kennedy and is Morris.
Matty Mo is a great guy and it\’s tough to see him get released like this knowing quite a few starters are struggling this year like Oswalt, Verlander, Billingsley, and Zito. Neal Huntington\’s decision to go younger is commendable, but puzzling since he doesn’t have a better option.
The Pirates released Morris because he is done… washed up… no longer a MLB caliber player. No need to analyze further. End of story.
Negative posts? Why not? These blogs are balanced in exact porportion to the quality of play and management. Good and bad things are all identified and qualified with extenuating circumstances. If this is overly negative it appears as if it is on par with the stats. I myself sit with my extra innings package (just for the bucs since I am in the midwest) and groan. When Bautista is not stretching or having another dramatic pause after an inside pitch; I wonder why Nady is so sad, or in pain, or whatever is wrong with him after another sweet shot. It was fun watching mclouth again though
I think the point we need to focus on is that Morris will be replaced by younger pitchers who will be under the control of Jeff Andrews. I agree with Jake that Andrews is killing our pitchers arms by leaving them out there too long. Man I hope Neal starts reigning him in or the Pirates won\’t have a healthy arm left.
I wish we had kept Matt for long relief. or as the 7th starter and go to a 7 man rotation. Our pitchers arms are dead and its April. Wait maybe this is the thought by Andrews. Pitch the dickens out of the young sinkerballers in April and it will pay dividends in May-June instead of July - Aug. Wait though Morris, Snell nor Gorzo are sinker ballers. OK back to the 7 man rotation. Maybe they can get these guys stretched out and healthy at the same time.
Can you see a quick Morris pick up by the Cardinals? See Ducan remove the downward plane and Morris back to a 5.00 ERA #5 starter.
Oye Vey 110 games here we come!!!!
I don\’t think anybody is going to pick up Morris. It seems like Morris thinks he is finished.
I\’m hoping that whoever recommended that the Bucs trade for him last year is no longer in the organization. Unfortunately for Matt, he is one of the pitchers who is not going to be able to pitch into his late 30s.
I don\’t blame Andrews for trying to get Morris to have more of a downward plane either. Morris\’ stuff is probably worse than Dukes.
I don\’t have high hopes for JVB.
Jake,
The table at top certainly shows that Morris is ok compared to Dumatrait and Duke.
How about an updated table on how they have done since Morris was acquired by the Pirates. Those numbers would not make Morris look that great and show that he is on a downward trend. Part of personnel decisions is deciding what can the player do in the future. There isn\’t much evidence that Morris can pitch well again. In his starts with the Bucs how many times did he pitch a scoreless first and second inning even?
Henry, just like DIPS, when xERA floats +3.00 over your ERA, something is drastically wrong with the defense behind the pitcher, not the pitcher. Ask Snell who has a ridiculous 36% hit rate against him so far - he’ll tell you.
Friend - agreed. Perrotto had a nice argument about the Bucs going younger today and he saw that as a good sign. That’s a great argument if we had anyone worth a can of corn, but we don’t. I mean, how many years does it take our pro scouts to evaluate crap to see if it’s crap?