On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Pittsburgh Pirates (13-19) vs. San Francisco Giants (14-19) - 7:05PM Est.
The Giants tried Barry Zito as a starting pitcher for a little over a year, but it didn't work out.
The Giants tried Barry Zito as a relief pitcher, but after only eight days in the bullpen, that wasn't quite working out either.
The Giants wanted to try Barry Zito as a corpse at the bottom of McCovey Cove, but the law doesn't look highly upon such actions, so with no other alternatives, they've decided to try him as a starter one more time.
Tonight baseball's worst contract will return to the mound as a starter, bringing with him that 0-6 record, the 7.53 ERA, and that 1.95 WHIP of his.
At some point, everyone has to say enough is enough. The Pirates' started the year with Matt Morris in their rotation, mostly in hopes that he could shake off last year's awful second half and replicate 2007's hot start, allowing the Pirates to ship some of him and his $10 million salary out of town. Of course, most people didn't expect that and wondered just how long the Pirates would stick with Morris. The answer? Five starts, 22 and 1/3 innings, six home runs, and 24 earned runs. After being shelled by the Phillies last night, the Pirates had had enough:
"It's been kind of a whirlwind morning,'' manager John Russell said. "Matt Morris has been a true professional. He's had a great career. He wanted to help us win, and it just wasn't happening."
It was obvious to everyone that Morris didn't have anything on the ball. His last two starts were more painful to watch than anything, because it was obvious that he was every bit as frustrated by his struggles as the fed-up Pirate fans. In the end, it was obvious to even the low-budget Pirates that eating the remainder of his salary was best for both Morris and the team. Well, I don't know that putting Phil Dumatrait into the rotation can qualify as "best for the team," but a change definitely had to be made.
When ex-Pirates' GM Dave Littlefield got the axe last September, it was widely assumed that the final straw in his disastrous reign of terror was the Rajai Davis-for-Matt Morris trade executed at last year's deadline. It wasn't that Davis was a great prospect (he's since been cut by the Giants), but rather that Morris was a shadow of his former self and due around $10 million in 2008 and an option for 2009, with Littlefield graciously picking up all of the onerous contract from Brian Sabean.
Morris was pretty bad with the Pirates last year and he's been downright awful this year, off to an 0-3 start with a 9.15 ERA, a WHIP of nearly 2.00, and opponents slugging nearly .700 against him. Surely, the Pirates are ready to cut bait, right? RIGHT?!? Wrong. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"As long as we feel there's still an ability in there to get people out, we're going to continue to let Matt be a starting pitcher for us," general manager Neal Huntington said last night. "If we get to the point where we just don't think he can compete, then we obviously have to make a move at that point."
Are they getting close?
"At this point, we're not all that close, which I know the fans don't want to hear. We're not close to deciding that Matt is done, because that's essentially what you'd be deciding. Maybe he could go somewhere else and click. We want to make sure we exhaust all opportunities right here."
The problem is that the Pirates sadly don't have other options right now and it's probably true that their best choice is to keep trotting Morris out there, hoping against hope that he finds some kind of form and pitches his way into a trade, in which they'll have to eat most of his salary but will be free of the bane of watching him pitch.
Earlier this week I reminded the San Diego Padres that it takes three outfielders to fill your customary major league lineup. I don't know if they read my warning or if losing Kosuke Fukudome to the Cubs spurred them on but according to Buster Olney of ESPN, they are feverishly working to make a deal that brings Jason Bay back into the Padre fold. He was a member of the organization for only a year before the Friars sent him to Pittsburgh in a deal for Brian Giles.
Olney reports the two teams are deep in discussion of a multiplayer swap with names like Xavier Nady, Matt Morris, Nate McLouth and Michael Barrett attached as ballast. The Padres would also have to dip into their prospect well to get a deal done for Bay, which leads us to Chase Headley. The top prospect in the organization, Headley's a third baseman who demolished the Texas League and didn't embarrass himself during a cup of coffee in place of Kevin Kouzmanoff.
But, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, there's no chance of the Padres including Headley in the deal. They plan to move him to left so they can have him and Kouzmanoff in the lineup at the same time down the road.
New Pirates' GM Neal Huntington did not come into an envious position in Pittsburgh. He's taken the reigns as GM of a franchise that has maybe 3 decent big league prospects in the entire organization, depending on your definition of prospect. Dave Littlefield left the minor league system in shambles for him. That leaves Huntington with a difficult choice. Does he try and shore up the big league roster to avoid the ignominy of the Pirates' tying the all-time record for consecutive losing seasons by a franchise in any sport? Or does he gut the team Marlins/D'Backs/Tigers style to rebuild the minor league system and try to position the franchise for long-term success at the cost of more dreary seasons for Pirate fans?
Personally, I'm hoping for the second one. I'd rather he do this thing right than try and patch things up just to save face value with casual fans. According to Metro News Canada, Huntington is doing exactly that. In fact, at the GM meetings he was supposedly taking offers for Jason Bay and the Indians, who watched Kenny Lofton, Trot Nixon, and Franklin Gutierrez, among others, try and man the corner outfield spots this year, are interested.
Off the top of my head, other Pirates that I would say will probably be moving this winter are relievers like Damaso Marte and Salomon Torres and expensive players like Jack Wilson and Matt Morris (if they can find any takers). Honestly though, I really doubt anyone that wore black and gold last year is untouchable, except maybe Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. If good enough offers come in for guys like Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche, I don't expect Huntington to think twice about dealing them. The only real question is whether the guys in the majors are good enough to help Huntington accomplish his goal of restocking the minors. I'm not so sure they are.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Philadelphia Phillies (60-54) vs. Atlanta Braves (61-54)-7:35PM Est.
Both of these teams are fighting to catch the New York Mets in the NL East, but this weekend they'll have to get through each other first. Currently the Braves trail New York by 3.5 games, and the Phillies trail by 4 games. There's also the wild card well within each team's reach, so this series is rather important. Life as been good in Atlanta since they added Mark Teixeira and Octavio Dotel, as the Braves have won seven of their last ten games. Tonight Chuck James starts for Hotlanta, and he's never lost to the Phillies. He's made four starts in his career against the Phils and is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA. Cole Hamels starts for the Phillies, and Philly has won six of his last seven starts at Citizens Bank. So you should really take some time out of your busy Friday night schedule of not getting any and tune into this game. You never know, maybe Chipper Jones will say Ryan Howard is on steroids too.
One aspect of Barry's milestone home runs that most people are missing, is that the Giants lost not only on Saturday when he crushed No. 755, but also on Tuesday when he blasted No. 756. In fact, Bonds took his selfishness to a whole new level on Tuesday, exiting the lineup in the middle of the game while his team was barely hanging on to a 5-4 lead.
After leaving, the bullpen gave up four runs in the 8th, allowing the Nats to grab what would be an 8-6 win. Had Barry stayed in the game, he would've had an at-bat in the 7th with one out and a man on. Furthermore, had he reached base in that at-bat, he would've batted once again in the bottom of the 9th. Instead, it was decided that Barry's work for the night had been done, and his team was left to lose 8-6 -- with its best offensive threat sitting on the bench.
Maybe now we have a better idea about what Peter Magowan was complaining when he said he felt the pursuit of the record was distracting the team. Maybe now we have a better understanding of traded pitcher Matt Morris who said many of the older Giants didn't play hard, and that they had accepted losing in San Francisco. It just seems fitting to me that one of the notoriously self-centered players in baseball left the game during the middle of it, allowing his team to end up losing. If he really were a team player, don't you think he would have stayed in until the game was over? I certainly think that would have been the right thing to do. Then again, when have we known Barry to ever do what was right?
The one resounding question from MLB's come-and-gone trade deadline remains: what on Earth were the Pirates thinking?
The trade for Matt Morris -- a mediocre, overpaid pitcher -- to the Pirates -- a notoriously finicky, tightwadded team -- continues to make no sense whatsoever, except to prove further that Dave Littlefield is really poor at his job. That doesn't mean some, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Degan Kovacevic, can't try to explain all this silliness:
So, why Morris?
And why now?
To start, rewind to Tuesday morning, hours before Major League Baseball's 4 p.m. trading deadline. The Pirates, according to Littlefield, were frustrated by an inability to pry away one of the several targeted starters on his scouts' list.
Also, there is the job factor. If Morris fares well, he can help the Pirates finish strong this season and, perhaps, convince Nutting and the new CEO coming this fall that Littlefield deserves to stay for the final year of his contract in 2008. If nothing else, he could illustrate to Nutting that, for the first time in his tenure, he could acquire a big-money player with good results.
Those are just two of the several plausible, but still ridiculous, reasons Kovacevic proposes. Like the great scientists of our time, it is noble of Kovacevic to attempt to explain the unexplainable, but really, the more and more you think about it, the deeper the rabbit hole of stupidity goes. Best not to even try sometimes.
Most people consider the trade deadline to be a time for contenders to stock up for the stretch run ... so what's a couple of last-place teams like San Francisco and Pittsburgh doing swapping players? That's what happened, as the Giants sent 32-year-old starting pitcher Matt Morris to the Pirates in exchange for 26-year-old backup outfielder Rajai Davis and the always popular Player To Be Named Later.
I suppose this makes sense for the Giants, who have a chance to get out from underneath Morris' contract. He signed a three-year, $27 million deal prior to last season and has responded with a 4.98 ERA last year and a 4.32 ERA thus far this season. He's not a bad back-of-the-rotation starter, but not a guy you want to give $9 million a year.
Davis may never be a star, but he's shown a proven ability (in the minors, at least) to hit for average, draw walks and steal bases. Plus, at 26 years old, he's 17 years younger than Barry Bonds, nine years younger than Dave Roberts and seven years younger than Randy Winn. Considering the Giants' lineup features six guys at least 35 years old (seven if you count the injured Mike Matheny), rolling the dice by trading a disappointing pitcher for a cheap kid who might compete for the team's leadoff spot within a year isn't a horrible idea.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the days most intriguing baseball matchups
Arizona Diamondbacks (58-48) vs. Atlanta Braves (54-41)-4:40PM Est.
The only thing more impressive than the Diamondbacks current 8-game win streak is the fact that they've won their last three in walk-off fashion. Eric Byrnes hit a walk-off home run on Thursday, Tony Clark followed him up on Friday night, and Conor Jackson singled home the winning run in the 10th inning last night. Now Arizona finds itself tied with the Dodgers for first in the NL West, trailing only by a few percentage points. A win today against the Braves would not only bump the win streak to nine games, but also give the Diamonbacks their first home sweep of the Braves in franchise history. Livan Hernandez starts for Arizona, and in his last start he picked up his first victory in his last ten starts. Tim Hudson gets the ball for the Braves, and not only is he pitching well lately, but he's dominated Arizona in his career. In five starts against Arizona, Hudson is 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA.
At some point, everyone has to say enough is enough. The Pirates' started the year with 
When ex-Pirates' GM 
Earlier this week I reminded the San Diego Padres that 
New Pirates' GM 
One aspect of Barry's milestone home runs that most people are missing, is that the Giants lost not only on Saturday when he 
The one resounding question from MLB's come-and-gone trade deadline remains: what on Earth were the Pirates thinking? 
Most people consider the trade deadline to be a time for contenders to stock up for the stretch run ... so what's a couple of last-place teams like San Francisco and Pittsburgh doing swapping players? That's what happened, as the Giants sent 32-year-old starting pitcher 
