Pirates ship Morris to Marlins

The Pittsburgh Pirates made the first move after a disappointing start to 2014 as the Pirates traded reliever Bryan Morris to the Miami (still feels weird typing that) Marlins for the Marlins competitive balance pick (#37) in the upcoming baseball draft.

Before I get to Morris,yes,I know that there is supposed to be no trading of draft picks in baseball,but those special competitive balance picks can be traded.
I'd like to see all the picks be dealt,but that is a post for another day.

The 27 year old Morris was 4-0 this season with an ERA of 3.80 in 23 innings of work,but the Pirate had been used less of late as Clint Hurdle had problems finding uses for Morris with an array of command issues of late.
If the Pirates truly thought Morris was as good as he was going to be-which was not bad,but not a future bullpen stalwart at the end,then this is a nice deal because it will get them an excellent prospect in return at the 37th spot.
However,I think there just might be more to this-sometimes teams make a smaller deal to grease the skids for a later and larger deal.
Just saying that there is a power hitting gentleman waiting to be dealt in Miami....

The deal also shows (along with the Ike Davis trade that for some reason I never wrote about) that even with a new contract,Neal Huntington must be feeling a little bit pressure from somewhere to change things up.
Not that means win now mode because trading a big leaguer for a draft pick is the opposite of that,just that Huntington is trying to shake up a team that I thought would take a step back this year before a potential leap next season.
You do not change the culture of losing in one short season folks,no matter how successful that season was....

This also closes the book on the first big trade of the Neal Huntington era in Pittsburgh with Morris leaving to Miami.
The Jason Bay trade with the Dodgers and Red Sox could certainly not be called a success for Pittsburgh as other than the small contribution from Morris,the assets obtained were disappointing.
Brandon Moss has become a nice hitter,but it was in Oakland,not Pittsburgh that Moss's bat offered any value.
Craig Hansen was disappointing before having his career essentially finished by injury and the less said about the Andy LaRoche era at third base the better.
Often times the sweeping changes that a new management team makes aren't always the best (think this at your job sometimes) and it's the later moves that work out once you get a handle on things.
Check this out for our thoughts at the time on the Jason Bay trade.

Back later tonight,I hope!