The Pirates released starting pitcher Matt Morris Sunday morning, cutting ties with the 33-year-old despite his hefty contract.
Morris, who was traded to the Pirates July 31 of last year for outfielder Rajai Davis and minor-league pitcher Stephen MacFarland, had been rocked all season. He had an 0-4 record with a 9.67 ERA. Morris lasted only 1 2/3 innings in his final start Saturday with the Pirates when he allowed six runs, three earned, and seven hits.
The Pirates are responsible for his $10,037,283 salary this season plus a $1 million buyout for 2009.
Morris was told of the news Sunday morning in a meeting with Pirates manager John Russell, general manager Neal Huntington and president Frank Coonelly. When he was asked to come to the meeting, Morris knew what news was coming.
"It's been difficult. I could feel it all coming to an end in a hurry," Morris said. "It's not what I planned. But it's best for the organization, best for the team. I've been a burden on the bullpen and it's been hard to deal with mentally.
"We sat down and came to a decision, I had some options, but felt this was the best decision."
Before coming to the Pirates Morris, an 11-year veteran, was a two-time National League All-Star with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001 and 2002. He has a lifetime record of 121-92 and an ERA of 3.97.
Huntington called the decision a "difficult" one, but said it was best for everyone to cut Morris at this time.
"We only hope that a number of out pitchers have the success in their careers that Matt's had," Huntington said. "But as we talk about strategically going forward, the best thing for Matt, the best thing for the other 24 guys in this clubhouse, the best thing for this organization, we realized this decision was the best step forward."
John Van Benschoten was recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis to Morris' spot on the roster. He was 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA in five starts with the Indians.
Also, Phil Dumatrait, who had been the long reliever out of the bullpen, will take Morris' place in the rotation Thursday when the Pirates play in Washington.
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5 comments:
Thank goodness! Altough many wish this was done sooner, in my opinion it shows a bit of a change than in administrations past.
If it was Littlefield last year, I believe he would have been in long relief regardless of his skills. Just eat the loss, and move on.
Baby steps.
This reminds me of the situation with Ramon Martinez (Pedro's brother), another former 20-game winner on whom the Pirates took a chance.
Martinez, who'd won 135 games with a .600-plus lifetime winning percentage, came to Pittsburgh in April 2001, just as PNC Park was opening. He made four starts for the Pirates and went 0-2 with an 8.62 ERA.
With his last-ever major-league pitch, Martinez plunked Benito Santiago ... speaking of another player the Pirates ended up with long, long, long past his prime!
And sorry about yesterday, Doug. We'll work out some better logistics for the future.
I'm somewhat concerned the fanbase is labeling the new management as geniuses for the Morris release. If you remember in Spring Training 2002, Dave Littlefield made a similar move when he released Derek Bell - aka - Operation Shutdown. He, too, was thought to be brighter than the previous GM. Seems he may have been worse.
i don't think they are geniuses at all. It doesn't take Casey Stengel to see that Matt Morris wasn't good.
Rather, it does show that, other than in previous years during Littlefield's reign, that they're not just letting terrible players play out their contracts (i.e. Randa, Burnitz).
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