Giants pursue Morris

[love_that_reefer]

Free-agent Matt Morris, who has a 101-62 record in seven seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, is among the starting pitchers the Giants are pursuing.

Agent Barry Axelrod said Friday he has had more than one conversation about Morris with Giants assistant general manager Ned Colletti. Friday was the first day free agents could talk dollars with any team.

"There have been talks, preliminarily," Axelrod said. "They did contact us. Ned contacted me early on and he contacted me again. We haven't gotten down to any of the nitty-gritty."

The Giants are casting a wide net for starters, so Morris is not necessarily their principal target, but he makes sense for them on several levels.

Morris is one of the few significant free-agent starters not represented by Scott Boras, he is not expected to command a gargantuan salary and he has worked well with former Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny.

"We actually talked about that," Axelrod said. "Of the many factors Matt will be considering, that would be one of the positives."

Morris was 14-10 in 2005. He had a 4.11 ERA and lost his last five decisions, but he walked just 37 batters in 31 starts and is durable, having pitched 395 innings over the past two seasons. Home runs have been an issue.

Axelrod said the Giants have asked about another client, Mark Sweeney, a free-agent first baseman and outfielder. Sweeney, a left-handed hitter, batted .294 as a reserve for San Diego in 2005.

Axelrod has had a good relationship with Colletti, who was believed to be interviewing for the Dodgers' GM opening Friday. Boras' pitching clients on the market include A.J. Burnett, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Millwood and Kenny Rogers. Free agents not represented by Boras include Esteban Loaiza and Paul Byrd.

Morris had a good year last year coming back from surgery and would welcome him to SF aslong as we don't pay way too much for him. I have thought about Sweeney but I am not going to worry too much about him. I hope for someone a lot better.

[Kingdom]

Morris would be swell, but would you pay him what the dodgers gave Lowe, eh eh eh?



I must know your opinion on that regardless.

[love_that_reefer]

I would pay him in the 3 yr/$7 mil range. He will get more than that but if that is what Kris Benson can get, WOW! Morris has a good win/loss record over seven seasons and that would be my cut off point.

[Kingdom]

Kris Benson prolly didn't even think he'd really get that kind of money. Burnett is going to look back at that, and say, I want double.

[love_that_reefer]

Yep, GM's really ****ed themselves last year.