We traded for Matt Morris. Seriously.

I've tried to not read any comments or any other blogs about this before doing my post on this, so if you've read something similar already, bear with me.

I don't get this move. We are twenty games under .500 with three relievers we could've shipped off at the deadline for a decent return, given the market for relievers this August. We are a rebuilding baseball team. The only moves we've made are for a utility infielder and a 32-year old starter who's pretty obviously past his prime and will make $9 million next year. Shenanigans.

On the surface, Morris for Davis and a PTBNL isn't a bad trade. Davis sucks and Morris is certainly a more serviceable starter than Van Benschoten or Armas. Hell, if we were a contender that was a starter short for a playoff run, I'd say we just made a great trade. The problem is that if asked to describe the Pirates right now, I would probably characterize them as a shitty, shitty baseball team that is light years away from contending in any time frame resembling the near future as opposed to a contender one starter away from a playoff run. For this team, it's a lateral move at best. What's the real difference between 62-100 and 65-97?

The thing I don't like about this move is my gut feeling is that it was made for ulterior motives. Assuming DL remains employed this winter, he now has Morris's $9.5 million contract as an excuse not to do anything. And let's think about things this way, the Pirates get a ton of money pumped into the team from the various MLB revenue sharing streams. If it looks like they're pocketing that money, as a $38 million payroll might suggest, people might have a problem with that and try to take their cash cow away. Adding a guy like Morris with his contract quells that kind of talk. "Hey, look at the Pirates! Trading for a guy with a big contract! Not afraid to spend a little at the deadline."

The thing that gets me is that we're supposed to believe this team is on a budget when it comes to draft picks, then we go out and do something like this. The money is there, but it's only spent in ways that serve the ownership. I mean, Matt Morris? What are we doing? What's the plan? What direction are we going in with this team? We need a makeover and we get Matt Morris. Ugh.