Charlie Morton's Last Stand

The Pittsburgh Pirates will do some tinkering to the starting rotation this week. Jeff Karstens is being shelved for the time being with a tired arm. Daniel McCutchen will assume Karstens spot in the rotation tonight against the Cardinals.


They will also need a starter for Sunday, as Ross Ohlendorf won't be taking his scheduled start. The guy to keep an eye on is Charlie Morton. Morton needs this opportunity. Pirates fans need it as well.

Morton deserves at least a five-start look at the end of the season. The Pirates have to find out which guy they have. Is it the Charlie Morton that showed towards the end of 2009 that he can be a capable major league pitcher? Or, do they have the Charlie Morton that simply couldn't get major league hitters out consistently in 2010?


The Pirates should believe in Morton still. He has all the tools. He has a great arm with a fastball that can top 95 mph and can back that up with above average breaking stuff.

I vowed to never use the term "great stuff," after hearing it over a thousand times this year during Pirates telecasts, but Morton has it.

Morton has to show better command this time around. He has to locate better or he will get crushed. He has to pitch off his fastball more. It's a weapon and he needs to use it to get people out.

He also has to be much tougher mentally as well. He's too talented to fold and start giving into hitters. The scouting reports on Morton, dating back to his days in the Atlanta system, have always questioned his head. With the "stuff" a guy like Morton has, he has to have a bulldog-like mentality.

Throwing to Chris Snyder instead of Ryan Doumit should help out as well. In his short time in Pittsburgh, Snyder has shown that he will call the game to the pitchers strengths instead of working to their weaknesses, which Doumit is very fond of doing.

Morton is a much better pitcher than his 1-9 record and 9.35 ERA indicate. If the opportunity is given to him, he must take advantage of it.

This could be a second chance served up to him on a silver platter. He must approach it with that attitude or risk not being part of a future Pittsburgh Pirates rotation. He needs to succeed. The Pirates need him to succeed. The fans need him to succeed.

This could be Charlie Morton's last stand as a Pittsburgh Pirate. He needs to come out fighting.

Bucs aquire Snyder- What's Doumit's future?

The Pirates had another busy trade deadline, but unlike years past, this year there were no salary dumps or accumulation of prospects. The Pirates made three trades today and all appear to be good baseball moves. The Pirates acquired catcher Chris Snyder and minor league shortstop Pedro Ciriaco from the Arizona Diamondbacks, in exchange for Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby and D.J. Carrasco.

They also sent closer Octavio Dotel to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right hander James McDonald and minor league outfielder Andrew Lambo and also sent Javier Lopez to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for right hander Joe Martinez and outfielder John Bowker. Give the Pirates some credit for being able to sign some veteran relievers in the off-season that they were able to turn into young arms.

The biggest move of the day though was acquiring Snyder. It also now leaves a big question on what to do with Ryan Doumit. Snyder has the reputation of being one of the games better defensive catchers, something the Pirates were desperately in need of. He should be able to help the pitching staff out as well, as Snyder is know for being able to handle a staff, something Doumit wasn't capable of. The Pirates did well with this move. While Snyder doesn't do much as an average hitter, his offensive numbers are comparable to Doumit's, who doesn't offer much of anything.

Snyder is hitting .231 on the year, while Doumit is only hitting .258. Snyder's hit ten homers and driven in 32 runs, while Doumit has hit eight homers and driven in 32. The improvement though is defensively. Snyder is known for being a glove man and has a good arm behind the dish, while Doumit is the worst catcher in the game today. Doumit won't be behind the plate very often (Thank God) anymore and the Pirates young pitchers will benefit from it.



What do you do now with Doumit though? It's a shame that his fragile self got hurt again right before the deadline or there is a good chance he would have got dealt. The immediate plan is to make him the everyday right fielder and that is just an awful idea. In six seasons as a pro, Doumit has done absolutely nothing to warrant regular playing time, yet the Pirates keep finding ways to get his "bat" into the lineup. What bat?

Doumit has had one decent year offensively as a pro, in 2008 when he hit .318. That same season, he also set career highs in homers (15) and RBI's (69). Still very below average numbers though. Yet, the Pirates continue to run him out there and bat him in the middle of the order often when his track record clearly shows he's not a talented offensive player. He's hit over .260 only one other time (.274 in 2007), reached double digits in homers only one other time (10 in 2009) and other than his 69 RBI season of 2008 has never driven in more than 40 runs in a season. Not to mention he is a huge liability no matter where you put him on the field defensively.

It's a shame the Pirates are thinking about putting him in right field. You have to feel bad for Lastings Milledge. First he has to platoon with Ryan Church, who was hitting .180 on the season and now he will lose at bats to Doumit. Once he started playing everyday again, all Milledge has done is hit. When guys are on base, Milledge drrives in runs, hitting over .380 with runners in scoring position, something Doumit would know nothing about.

It's a disgrace to keep giving Doumit at bats. Now that the Pirates have better talent, they should run their best eight guys out there on a nightly basis. There is nothing wrong with having Doumit as a bench player, getting a spot start every now and then, but he shouldn't be getting regular playing time.