Be Like Tike

Sunday, April 27th, 2008 by Adam Wagner

Happy trails, Matt Morris

He was a really terrible pitcher, but one of the favorite players in the clubouse. He always seemed like a nice enough guy, but his “fastball” was 86 mph. In the end, Matt Morris, despite his role as a veteran leader on the Pirates, was released because his performance was terrible. Unfortunately, his legacy will always be as the player picked up in one of the most ridiculous deadline trades ever.

When Dave Littlefield traded Rajai Davis for Morris last July 31, the trade was definitely questionable, but it was also intriguing. Morris was a veteran pitcher who had achieved success elsewhere and was coming off of a very good first half, even though he had shown signs of burning out in the second half. Davis was an outfielder made expendable by the presence of Nyjer Morgan. Then, however, the fact that Morris was owed $10 million plus a $1 million buyout in 2008 became evident and the trade became a whole lot sketchier.

Littlefield’s logic when he was trading for Morris must have been this: “Wow, my team is actually really terrible and my pitching staff isn’t getting the job done. Also, the fans are revolting. Maybe if I trade for a player with a really big contract and history of past success who is kind of struggling right now, he’ll turn it around and I’ll get to keep my job and make the Nuttings happy.”

As we all know, of course, the Morris trade did not save Littlefield’s job, perhaps even contributing to his being fired. As Pirate President Frank Coonelly put it, “The decision to acquire Matt Morris last July did not turn out to be a sound baseball judgment. … I am confident that the investments that we are now making in this club will be far more productive.” That statement, while harsh, demonstrated that management is finally willing to be responsible for its players.

Even more importantly, it shows that Coonelly and GM Neal Huntington weren’t just talking when they said that this team was going to have accountability. Morris failed to perform on an epic level even after working with pitching coach Jeff Andrews and showed no signs of turning it around, so he was let go. The decision was made purely because of the on-field performance of Morris, with no monetary concerns factoring into the decision, just baseball.

And that’s the way it should be.

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