File this under "offloading a large salary for next season". I feel bad for Morris--last year he was the hard-luck guy on the staff, pitching well but not getting any run support (see also: Matt Cain) and consequently having a losing record to show for it. This year he started out better, but he's been decidedly hittable since the first of June, and he just wasn't getting better. Ultimately this was a necessary deal for the Giants, but it must suck to be Morris right now.
I think Matt Morris is a
consummate pro, who is maybe becoming a veritable Crash Davis, but who, like Crash, appreciates that he still has the opportunity to play the game that he loves. And it makes sense if Pitt thinks he can be a good influence on a young pitching staff, and if the Giants think he's done as much of that as can be done with Lincecum, et al. He'll always be a fan favorite* when he pitches in St. Louis, so nice that they traded him back to the NL Central.
*speaking of the '87 squad, all baseball purists (which includes Cardinal nation en masse) loved a guy like Dravecky, and we likewise all loved Will Clark - whose last MLB game was a Cards playoff loss - despite his brush up with the Wiz back in the day.
Unlike a certain
other honoree from the '87 squad, whom I won't name except to say that if he tried that one-flap-down shit against a LaRussa-managed squad...well, let's just say that he'd have been hit for sure the next time up & the benches would've cleared. To this day I can't hear or read his name without muttering 'a**hole' under my breath. I know he was y'all's big stick, but that was
exceedingly poor sportsmanship & it's a serious knock against Craig, an otherwise excellent manager, that he allowed it to continue.
It's worth pointing out (imho) that as much as Bonds has earned his bad rep over the years, he has NEVER pulled shit like that in the field of play.
Which is The. One. Reason. I can still admire the guy.
