Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 22, 2008
Less Than Nothing

Why keep Matt Morris?

The Pirates' options with Matt Morris all are plenty unattractive.

Buy him out?

That would prevent further scenes like the four-inning, eight-run meltdown that marked the 10-4 loss to the Florida Marlins last night at PNC Park, but it also would require writing a check for roughly $10 million with zero return. Every penny of Morris' $10,037,283 salary, as well as the $1 million buyout of his 2009 option, is guaranteed.

Right now, Morris has a VORP of -12.6, the worst in the National League. So right now for their $10 million, the Pirates are getting less than nothing. He's at the point where a AAA starter making the MLB minimum contributes more. The $10 million is out the window. The question is what is the best way to lose the least with that money. Right now, bringing in almost anyone else is better than letting Morris continue to pitch.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:43 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Remember when the Diamondbacks did that with Russ Ortiz? Best decision ever by an organization regarding their albatross contract. It was for more money as well.

Posted by: Didi at April 22, 2008 01:55 PM

Why not give him a shot in a relief role rather than just ship him out the door? The money owed isn't going away, and it isn't like Morris is a clubhouse cancer.

Posted by: michael at April 22, 2008 02:31 PM

"Why not give him a shot in a relief role rather than just ship him out the door? The money owed isn't going away, and it isn't like Morris is a clubhouse cancer."

The money is gone. The question is the best way to structure your pitching staff. Using Morris in relief still requires replacing him in the rotation and displacing someone currently in a relief role. So you'd have to believe Morris would be enough more effective in relief to add enough more value than whoever he'd replace in a relief role.

Mow, that's possible; Morris has been no worse than Evan Meek or Damaso Marte, who, between them, have pitched about as many innings as he has (16.1 for them, 20.2 for him) with about the same WHIP (roughly 2).

On the other hand, I think this really suggests that the Pirates have a fair number of lousy pitchers (among their starters, Gorzelanny has been somewhat worse than Morris), so replacing the worst of your relievers with a crappy starter might not be the best way to go. The real questions is--do you have someone who's likely to do better, for essentially nothing, int he monors? Or on the waiver wire?

Posted by: Donald A. Coffin at April 22, 2008 03:51 PM

The only real reason I can see for hanging onto Morris, in the rotation, a bit longer, is that the "best" options in the minors aren't quite ready for the majors, and so the Bucs are willing (or forced) to let Morris blow every fifth start until such time that Anonymous Young Pitcher is ready to come up.

Posted by: TC at April 22, 2008 04:01 PM
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