Morris to choose between Giants and Reds

[Geki Ace]

Per RotoWorld:

Matt Morris - S - STL - Dec. 11 - 12:47 am et

Matt Morris told the Post-Dispatch Saturday night that he would not be returning to St. Louis. He's narrowed his choices to San Francisco and Cincinnati, according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.
Multiple sources told the Post-Dispatch that the Giants appeared the clear frontrunners. Morris is expected to get a three-year deal worth about $25 million. Dec. 11 - 12:47 am et
Source: FOXSports.com

I honestly don't really want him. It's a nice gesture, but the money would be far better spent on locking up young guys. I can't see Morris doing anything near a 4.00 ERA with us.

[Slyder]

I agree, we went down this path once before, if we were going to throw major bucks at someone it should have been Burnett or another of the marlins youngins type pitcher.

[missionhockey21]

Guys, this new ownership says they want to win and that's cool but happens when this team loses? And we know even if Morris returns to his once ace status, he's not enough to push us over the top in terms of what we need to win. How are they going to fill about giving Dunn big bucks then?

I'd be much happier with Dunn getting a LTC than overpaying Matt Morris.

[theFatty]

Go West

[General]

This is like chosing between getting your eyes plucked out and getting your privates chopped off.

[redsrbetter]

Yep give Dunn his LTC. Make him the franchise player and see what you can do abut Felo after this season. Try and get him a LTC also.

The thing is, DanO is insisting that he is not done. It is obvious that Morris is his highest prize and he is going after him. But what if he signs with the Giants? DanO will still have the opportunity to trade Kearns or Pena for something horrible. This makes our offense worse and likely our pitching not much better. I guarantee DanO will not swing anthing better than a Paul Wilson type pitcher for one of our stud outfielders.

So, would it be best for DanO to be done with the dealing all together and just lock up Dunn with a LTC? Our pitching will still suck, but we will have our franchise guy and will not be guessing on him come next offseason. And we will not be hurting next offseason trying to think about another arbitration hearing or perhaps him wanting out.

DanO is ignoring this because he has to make a move in order to save his job. I don't think he cares about the future as much as he cares about now all of a sudden. He is going after Castellini's request to try and make a winner now. and he knows his job depends on it. So, we may as well say hello to another Dave Williams guys.

[Providence A's]

Looks like he'll sign with the Giants if it's just between the Reds and Giants because the Reds won't get him. Texas is out, too.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....512100365/1027

It's been an eventful week for the Reds, who dealt away perhaps their most popular player, added a couple of new faces to their roster and did a whole lot of talking, just like everyone else at the winter meetings.

But they're not done yet.

At this time on the baseball calendar a year ago, the Reds were just cranking up a transaction machine that would yield six newcomers before New Year's. While it's unlikely the Reds will match that volume in the remaining weeks of December, there's an unmistakable sense that there is work left to do in the offices of Great American Ball Park.

The most vivid indicator that general manager Dan O'Brien and his staff are still itching to deal is the current state of the pitching staff. As it stands now, the Reds have subtracted only spare parts Chris Booker and Randy Keisler from the group that finished the season dead last in the National League with a 5.15 ERA. Ramon Ortiz probably will follow them out the door at some point, as well.

To replace them, the Reds have corralled only left-hander Dave Williams, inexperienced reliever Mike Burns (27 big-league games) and a handful of pitchers signed to minor league contracts.

Not exactly a sweeping overhaul.

As much as the Reds' brain trust has harped on the need to improve the pitching - and it has been a constant drumbeat - it's difficult to believe there aren't more moves on the horizon. Adding fuel to that speculation is the position the Reds find themselves in now that they're home from Dallas.

By trading Sean Casey to Pittsburgh for Williams, they freed up about $5 million in spending money that could help them chase a free agent. By acquiring utilityman Tony Womack on Thursday, the Reds have given themselves flexibility to deal another regular position player (pick one: Austin Kearns, Wily Mo Pena or Ryan Freel) for a pitcher.

Now it's just a matter of following through.

Cracking the market for high-level free-agent starters will be difficult, barring an additional influx of cash. O'Brien has acknowledged the Reds' interest in Matt Morris, but it's doubtful the right-hander's services will be available for less than $8 million a year. Others are available, including Kevin Millwood, Jarrod Washburn and Jeff Weaver, but those three starters are clients of take-no-prisoners agent Scott Boras, and starting down that path could be more trouble than it's worth for the Reds.

There are possibilities in the next tier of starters, such as Jason Johnson, Scott Elarton and Joe Mays, but it's difficult to envision any of them as the key to a turnaround of Cincinnati's pitching fortunes. Besides, a market that wrought a $16 million commitment from the Tigers to 41-year-old Kenny Rogers (a Boras client) suggests that it's unwise for cost-conscious teams to dabble unnecessarily.

Now that the deadline for teams to offer salary arbitration to their own free agents has passed, there figures to be more activity among those players. The winter meetings featured a slew of trades, and there surely will be a few more around baseball before the holiday season comes to a close.

For the Reds, it's just a question of when to get involved and to what extent. In addition to poking around for another pitcher to upgrade their rotation, they'll also be on the lookout for a reliever - possibly even a closer, if they can find one at a reasonable price in trade (Tampa Bay's Danys Baez, perhaps?). In addition, the Reds will resume negotiations with Rich Aurilia's agent next week as they continue to hash out whether to bring back one of their most productive off- season acquisitions of last winter.

The timetable for checking all these items off the list isn't prohibitively tight, so the Reds should be able to take a deep breath after the wall-to-wall scheduling of the winter meetings and figure out what comes next.

And there will be something.

[love_that_reefer]

I would rather have Morris than Burnett everyday of the week especially for the money. I hope the Giants do get him but won't be upset if we don't.

[Geki Ace]

Rosenthal was wrong. Shocking.

Matt Morris - S - Cardinals


FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal now says the Reds are not one of the two finalists for Matt Morris. The Nationals have also been informed that they're out of it.
The Giants remain the favorites to land Morris. The other team isn't known, but the Dodgers are a good guess. Dec. 11 - 1:37 pm et
Source: FOXSports.com

There was also mention in the Houston Chronicle of Lidge being offered around, and Dunn was one of the people they talked about as part of a deal.

[redsrbetter]

This is pretty good news. Now it allows DanO to take his thoughts elsewhere. I wonder what he is thinking on right now.

[MarinersFan87]

Ugh. Morris over Burnett? No way. 3 years younger. Slightly worse career ERA, but Morris is going through a serious decline. Burnett hasn't gotten hurt once since coming off TJ surgery, but Morris is coming off a shoulder injury (which is 10x worse than an elbow injury) and it had a lot to do with his horrid second half last year. Just look at their K/9, HR, BB/9, etc. stats. Morris is quickly getting worse whereas Burnett is still improving. And the Giants are talking about giving him 9 million a year? That is horrible.

[Wally Mo Pena]

Morris, Giants agree to three-year deal
By Rick Hummel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/11/2005

Catcher Mike Matheny long has been known for his defense, which has resulted in his winning four Gold Gloves, three with the Cardinals and his most recent with the San Francisco Giants. Now Matheny has been credited with an assist off the field.

Longtime Cardinals ace Matt Morris has agreed to a three-year contract worth between $24 million and $27 million with the Giants, and according to agent Barry Axelrod, Matheny played a significant role in Morris' decision.

"I would not discount the presence of Mike Matheny as a factor in Matt's decision," Axelrod told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It was not the overwhelming factor, but a factor.

"Matt has a tremendous confidence level with Mike, and they've had a good experience together in the past."

Matheny was the Cardinals' regular catcher from 2000-2004, a period when Morris won 22 games once and also had victory totals of 17 and 15.

The Giants won their pursuit of Morris in competition with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cardinals, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, with most of the other contenders, including in the Cardinals, reluctant to offer three guaranteed years.

Morris, 14-10 with a 4.11 earned-run average last season, is expected to earn an average of $8 million to $9 million a season with the Giants, but items such as signing bonus and deferred payments are to be ironed out.

"We still have some details to square away, but our focus is on the Giants," Axelrod told the Chronicle. "We basically said that assuming we get the last details worked out with the Giants, that's where he wants to go."

Meanwhile, Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said he hoped to finalize the signing of lefthanded reliever Ricardo Rincon today. Rincon appeared in 67 games for the Oakland Athletics last season, allowing just 10 of 46 inherited runners to score.

Jocketty said he still was seeking more bullpen help, concentrating for the moment on righthanders Octavio Dotel and Braden Looper, both of whom had arm surgery this year. Looper, who Jocketty has been told will be able to pitch by the start of the season, was the New York Mets' closer for much of last season and was a first-round amateur draft choice by the Cardinals in 1996.

Ironically, Morris and Looper were the first two No. 1 picks in Jocketty's 11 seasons with the Cardinals.

As for Jocketty's other stated goal, improving the outfield, he said he might have to satisfy that need through trade rather than the free-agent market, which features the likes of Jacque Jones, late of Minnesota, and Juan Encarnacion, who played with Florida last season

"There are some free agents we're looking at, but I think the free agents are going to be too expensive," Jocketty said.

[redsrbetter]

Awesome, thanks Wally.