Reds among the teams pursuing Morris, but O'Brien moving slowly

[CincyRedsFan30]

DALLAS -- Still in need of starting pitching, the Reds could be part of the race to land free agent right-hander Matt Morris.
Cincinnati is one of a half-dozen teams in the running for Morris' services, agent Barry Axelrod said Wednesday.

"That's one of the teams under consideration, yes," Axelrod said during the third day of the baseball Winter Meetings at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas.

Talks have not reached the serious stage, however.

"Based on [Axelrod's] description of the situation, I would say this is still very much in the preliminary stages of discussion," Reds general manager Dan O'Brien said.

Axelrod would not name other teams seeking Morris' services, but there is speculation that the Mariners, Rangers, Cardinals and Giants are also pursuing the pitcher, who was 14-11 with a 4.11 ERA last season. The eight-year veteran owns a 101-62 record and 3.61 ERA, all with St. Louis.

Cincinnati would have money to spend once the still-pending Sean Casey for Dave Williams trade with Pittsburgh is finalized. Casey will earn $8.5 million in 2006, while Williams is due to make $1.4 million. Even with the Williams addition, the Reds still need to further upgrade a rotation that ranked last in ERA in the National League this past season.

Axelrod has not made public what kind of contract terms he was seeking for Morris.

[CincyRedsFan30]

With the pace O'Brien moves when it comes to these things, Morris will probably have picked a different team before O'Brien gets to step three of his "Ten Step Plan of Negotiation."

[Cincy]

I don't want Morris. He's a jack@ss for one thing and he just reminds me too much of Eric Milton.

[missionhockey21]

Honestly, I don't recall seeing Morris pitch much last year so I don't know how his stuff looked, but I would be ok with Morris assuming that the deal isn't crazy big or longer than two years. He's got a career G/F ratio of 1.67 and last year posted 1.60 (good for 16th best in baseball.) So assuming that he is healthy enough, there is a chance that he could be at least solid for us. He got hit off pretty well (.276 BAA) and he didn't strikeout a ton (5.47 K/9) but he doesnt walk a ton either and like mentioned, gets his fair share of grounders.

I am curious though as to what he looked like last year and is there chance that his stuff could pick back up (since I imagine that last year had it's ups and downs after returning from injury.)

[CincyRedsFan30]

Apparently his velocity dropped off some near the end of last year, but hopefully that had something to do with the injury and getting back into form.

I expect move(s) tomorrow. We'll see what kind they are.

[Slyder]

I don't want Morris. He's a jack@ss for one thing and he just reminds me too much of Eric Milton.

but yet you want aurilia back?

[Cincy]

Morris is different. He has pulled so much crap in the past playing us.

Aurilia just wanted to play.

[HafDawg2003]

I dont care if he pissed on GABP, if hes gonna bit 15 wins with a sub 4.50 ERA, count me in...

[redsrbetter]

I think this is the most likely deal right now. I truly believe that DanO is looking to used the saved Casey money on Morris.

[redsrbetter]

Talking about Morris

For the first time this week, O'Brien admitted the Reds have talked to the representative for free agent pitcher Matt Morris.

The ex-Cardinal reportedly is asking for a three-year $25 million deal, similar to the three-year $22.5 million deal the Reds gave pitcher Eric Milton last year.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...8redsside.html

[redsrbetter]

per rotoworld:

The Cardinals are turning back to Matt Morris after failed runs at A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez and are prepared to offer him a three-year deal.
St. Louis, San Francisco, Texas and Seattle are believed to be the finalists for Morris, who is set to command at least a three-year contract. The Cardinals are higly unlikely to put the high offer on the table, but they're prepared to be competitive and they're hopeful Morris will take a little less to stay with the team. Dec. 9 - 4:53 am et
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Reds aren't even mentioned? This must mean that DanO has pulled out of this idea as well. I think it would be a good idea to stay away from paying a guy like Morris too much money. But, where are we going to get some good pitching?

[Wally Mo Pena]

through a trade of kearns. It's what DanO always said he was going to do. We all jumped to the conclusion that the trade of Casey replaced the trade of Kearns, but i don't think that's the case. All of these moves are sort of coming out of logical order, and i think it would have made more sense if the moves had gone down like this:

Kearns traded for pitcher(s), opens up the OF for Pena (offense gains 10 points of OPS using last years numbers) but leaves denorfia and freel on the bench, both of whom the reds think can play in the OF.

Casey traded for Williams, get's us out of the bad casey contract, opens up the OF for denorfia (offense loses 10 points of OPS compared to casey), but leaves a hole in the utility spot.

Prospects traded for Womack to fill utility role.

Our offense doesn't lose a thing as far as last years OPS is concerned, we save money which gives us flexibility to make moves later on in the season, and we pick up TWO starters.

Of course any number of things could go wrong. Williams could stink, griffey cold get hurt, denorfia could be a bust, Pena could fall apart (though he's kicking butt in the DR) the kearns deal could be crap. But that's true of any deals, and at some point you have to take risks to improve, and at least on paper it's looking more and more like DanO is doing that. The way we will tell if there is any reason to the madness we've seen so far is if Kearns is dealt and we get a good pitcher.

If that goes down, it will have been backwards, but it will make sense to me.

[redsrbetter]

Great points Wally. This is what we were hoping for all along. But I really think that Womack will be starting at 2B if Aurilia is not signed. That being said, we still need the Kearns/Pena trade asap.

Here are the talks on Kearns' possible movement:

Austin Kearns- the Reds have reportedly offered Kearns to CHI for Sergio Mitre and another minor leaguer (likely a pitcher)...Twins, Padres, Pirates and Cards also interested...the Reds have asked for Jerome Williams instead of Mitre and the Cubs agreed to that...Cubs' GM Jim Hendry declines that he has spoke with the Reds...Cubs also willing to deal Ricky Nolasco or add Todd Wellemyer to a deal for Kearns...BOS has offered Youkilis and Arroyo for him
http://www.mlb4u.com/rumors.html

These are some possibilities and I am not too sure how solid they are. As most of them will not work because trades have already been made for suggested players. But I agree that Kearns or Pena trades would be the best way to go now.

[Geki Ace]

I don't see the Cubs giving up any more pitching prospects to get Kearns. The Cardinals might still be interested, but they've either got Marquis, who it doesn't make sense to get, or lower-level pitching prospects. They won't give up Reyes and Wainwright has sucked total ass the last two years. They've got Lambert and a few other low-level guys, but not much major-league ready.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I didn't jump to the conclusion that the trade of Casey means Kearns won't be traded.

As I mentioned prior to the trade of Casey, I had received some fairly strong indications that both Casey and Kearns could be on the move.

I still think Kearns could be on the move, although I wouldn't discount Pena as going instead.