The Parrot touched on this Tuesday, in basic fan response to a trade that is, um, not exactly great (better words to describe such a fleecing escape us, actually). But we were surfing these here nets tonight, waiting on Mr. Bonds to do his business and get out of the litter box, when a Post-Gazette article reminded us that the recently acquired Matt Morris is now the richest player in Pirates’ history. What. The. Fuck. How does it feel Pirates fans? Not only did Dave Littlefield just stick your squad with paying half of Jason Kendall’s salary (or more, actually), not only has he left a number of promising young pitchers untended for (see: Perez, Oliver and the seemingly quick-falling Ian Snell), not only has he failed to bring talent to surround Jason Bay–Adam LaRoche excepted–but now he has added a washed up, grey bearded guy who has been run off by the hapless Giants.
Now look, Matt Morris finished third in Cy Young voting one year, 14th for the MVP that same season and once won 22 games. Not surprisingly, this happened in 2001 as well. As recently as 2003 (we suppose that’s recent for a 10 year vet, right?) he posted a sub 4.00 ERA but only once in his career has he posted a WHIP below 1.20. That means that regardless of how lucky he’s gotten, or how good a defense he has behind him, he still allows a shitload of people to get on base. Which, if you are a professional pitcher in the major leagues, is a major problem relating to your profession. This year, his ERA+ is 99, making him slightly worse than league average and he’s been getting shellbombed lately. Worse news? His WHIP is at a whopping 1.471, which just flat out doesn’t correlate with his other numbers, particularly in a pitcher’s park. Which probably means two things: first, he’s been aided by a bunch of balls that didn’t go for home runs and spared his ERA early in the season, and secondly, he is about to have a narsty second “half” of the season. But no biggy, Buccos, he only takes up 20 percent of your whole payroll.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah Brian Sabean pretty much committed highway robbery. Matt Morris is an entirely undesirable baseball player. But I guess he’ll “mentor” the Pirates’ young pitchers…?
Well, clearly. I’m sure he’s really good at it too, which is why Sabean wanted to keep him around for Lincecum, Cain and Lowry.