The Morris Release

The Coonelly/Huntington regime is starting to undo the damage of the McClatchy/Littlefield regime, and I don't base that simply on their decision to release Matt Morris. Anyone would release Matt Morris at this point because the man is clearly done. More impressive is the rhetoric surrounding the release:

"The Pirates' decision to release Matt Morris was a difficult one, but not because of the financial implications of that decision," Pirate president Frank Coonelly said. "We will not avoid making the changes necessary to return the Pirates to a championship caliber club because of monetary considerations."

The Pirates acquired Morris -- and his contract -- from the San Francisco Giants July 31 for outfielder Rajai Davis and minor league pitcher Stephen MacFarland. That move, Coonelly said yesterday, "did not turn out to be a sound baseball judgment."

Sure, it may not be the pinnacle of bravery to identify a bad decision your predecessor made, but that doesn't stop most new GMs and team presidents from sugar coating this sort of move with professional courtesy. So kudos to Coonelly for (a) calling a spade a spade; and (b) appreciating the concept of sunk costs in reaching the decision to jettison Morris. Let's hope they follow through with this sort of thinking with respect to their own personnel moves.

The contract is too long and large to reasonably expect it -- and it's his own decision he'd be repudiating -- but wouldn't it be neat if Brian Sabean applied the same concepts to Barry Zito?