Pirates lose,Paulino booed,Matt Morris on his way and an interesting comment

It is late,I cannot doze off,so to take my mind off things-I thought I would pound a post out.

The Pirates continue to puzzle me.
Not only did the Captain fail to trade Shawn Chacon and/or Damaso Marte when they are at the peak of their value,he seems to have made a desperation "hail mary" on San Francisco veteran Matt Morris.
Littlefield traded Rajai Davis and a player to be named later for Morris.
Now I have zero problem with moving Rajai Davis.
As those of you that read my Pirates GM series know,the Bucs had a few too many speedy,slap hitting center fielders of the same ability(Duffy,McLouth,Davis and Nyjer Morgan) and I advised moving one of them,so that is not a problem and the likely PTBNL will not be a high level prospect as the Pirates took ALL of Morris' salary on.
That is right-the Pirates are going to pay ALL 9.5 million of Morris 2008 salary next year,so unless the Pirates did this to move Morris by the August deadline,the Pirates will be paying close to 20% of their projected team salary next year to a 3 or 4 starter!
Check our friends over at Cot's Baseball Contracts for all the numbers on Morris.

And this is a starter that has been pummeled over the last two months,with no wins over that period and an ERA over 8!
This is not about my being upset about Matt Morris.
He is a average pitcher,might even help the Pirates and the Captain did not have to give up much for him,so no problem there.
But here is my problem-You thought that the demands of a possible impact player from the draft were too high for a player that you control the rights to for 6 years,but you almost double that for a year of a journeyman like Matt Morris???
If Littlefield had just gotten the Giants to pay a small chunk of this,I would be behind this even more.
Morris at 6 million sure beats 9.5 does it not???
It is just stunning to think that with all the great players in Pirate history that Matt Morris is now our highest paid player ever.
So,quite a gamble today in Pittsburgh,Littlefield has shoved everything into the pot.
If Morris turns things around,maybe DL gets another year,but if Morris pitches similarly to his Giant efforts-Littlefield gets the axe......

Now onto the game,where the visiting Redbirds defeated the Bucs 6-4 in a game noted for more defensive lapses from "Loafing" Ronny Paulino.
Paulino barely got out of his crouch on a catchable pop-up and in the same inning dropped an on the money relay throw from Jack Wilson that had Scott Rolen dead to rights out.
Instead,the run scored and the Cardinals had the lead that they would hold for the distance.
When is this guy going to pay for his lack of effort?
Go to the bench?To Indianapolis? A release?
Anything than watching this act EVERY night!!!!!!!!!
I know that Ryan Doumit is far from Johnny Bench as a backstop,but he brings a better bat and far more hustle than Paulino.
"Loafing Ronny" must have a dozen get out of jail free cards in his locker to continue to be run out there every night.
Paul Maholm pitched well again in the loss that dropped him to 7-13.
Paul has become quite dependable after a horrible start and has deserved better support over this span.
Doumit hit a homer (8th) to snap an 0 for 20 drought in the eighth inning.

Pitching Matchup

St.Louis: Braden Looper (8-8) at Pittsburgh: Tony Armas (0-3) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Here is a link to Will Smith's incredible response to the Monday "rainout".
Simply head shaking.

Also Will and the Suns want a new playing surface for Municipal Stadium.
I am in Smith's corner on this one.
It needs it,the team deserves it and frankly it reflects poorly on the City to visiting fans and teams that come here to see that bad of a surface.

Erik Arnesen pitches tomorrow,I spoke to Erik before today's game and he will be starting one of the two seven inning games.
Due to personal issues,I will miss at minimum 1 and possibly both games tomorrow,but will be there for the Augusta finale on Thursday for sure.

One final note on the Suns.
An anonymous reader posted in a response to a post that maybe I am negative on the Suns and their management.
You can read his post and my response here.
But it got me thinking,am I too hard on them or just too honest?
So I am putting a new poll up on this-vote on this please,I am interested to see what you think and feel free to comment too..........

I may be back tomorrow,if I have time.

Photo credits
Morris-Getty Images
Paulino-AP Photo-Gene Puskar