jeanne douglas

Here's a nice response by MattyMo to the talk about Tino as he leaves
the team:

--------
View from the clubhouse

11/30/2003

SOUND OFF

After reading the column by Bryan Burwell on Nov. 23, I felt compelled
to share insight regarding Tino Martinez from inside the clubhouse. It
is painfully clear that (Bryan) doesn't have a clue who or what Tino
was to our team over the past two seasons. Like the true veteran
decorated with a handful of accomplishments and World Series rings
that he is, Tino brought nothing but professionalism and knowledge of
what it takes to earn a championship to the Cardinal organization.
Isn't that why we acquired him in the first place? The reason we
didn't win wasn't because of Tino, as he always added motivation and
thoughtful insight in any players' meeting we had, often taking
younger players like myself under his wing to try to make us better.

I keep reading about the chemistry of this team and how we pulled
apart. That thought is taking the easy way out by anyone who says or
writes it. This past season we had basically the same nucleus that we
had for three straight playoff appearances. The only thing that was
different was that we didn't live up to our potential and expectations.

We didn't win because we didn't play up to our capabilities, starting
with myself. I'm sure everyone on that team would have loved to do
more to make the past season successful, but unfortunately that was
not the case. Instead of blaming Tino, a great man, player and leader
on his way out of town, we should look at ourselves as individual
players and front office executives and do whatever it takes to ensure
next season is a success, no matter how your paper decides to spin the
truth. In this country we enjoy the luxury of free speech, but your
writers are bordering on yellow journalism in this case.

I have a hard time believing that anyone who has ever stepped between
the white lines with Tino believes his desire is anything less than a
champion. He wanted to play everyday and was angry when he didn't.
That is and always will be the kind of player I want behind me when
it's my turn to take the ball. We should all have the same attitude.
If you can find one player, coach, manager or front office executive
who believes Tino's so-called attitude was part of our problem, then
this club isn't going in a championship direction.

Much of the frustration the team felt was not based on personality
conflicts, but was purely a result of being on the losing end of too
many games, which any club with a championship desire feels.

I had the privilege of playing with the great and humble Willie McGee
and I found Tino to be cut from the same cloth. I'm happy that Tino
has gone home to play in Tampa Bay, because I know how much he values
his time with his wife, Maria, and three terrific kids. But I,
speaking for the rest of the team, will miss his leadership and
personality greatly.

Matt Morris, pitcher
St. Louis Cardinals
Jupiter, Fla.

************************

--
JD

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game.
It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us."-- Walt Whitman

dan morisseau

In article <hlwdjsd-0B3656.17270330112003@news.la.sbcglobal.net>,
hlwdjsd@pacbell.net says...

Hurrah for Matt Morris for having the guts and integirty to stand up
to the likes of cheap shot artists like Bryan Burwell and Bernie
Miklasz! Tino was a class act and we'll be the poorer for his departure.
Would that we could keep guys like Tino (and Matt) and find a way to
trade self absorbed, self important, self promoting major media types
(not to mention the net monkeys) elsewhere. Thanks for sharing this with
us, Jeanne. I snese that both of us are going to take some heat for
defying the accepted wisdom hereabouts. So be it.

Dan

--
--
From the sunrise side of Mo-Pac's famous Kirkwood Hill - N 38°34'53", W
90°22'32", 680'
"¡Y tu madre tambien!"

jeremy reaban

<snip>

Hmmm, I'm guessing this means that Matt won't be back with the
Cardinals in 2005.

Thanks for posting this. While I am not much of a Tino fan, I also
don't think he deserved the treatment he got from the Post-Dispatch,
though it's pretty much what every player who is traded from the
Cardinals gets.

lance freezeland

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 19:47:31 -0600, Dan Morisseau
<dpm3@REMOVETHISmorisseau.org> gave us this:


I'm torn here. First, it's no surprise that Morris would stand up for
the integrity of his teammate, Martinez. Team athletes do that all
the time, and simply because Morris says it doesn't necessarily make
it true.

And I have no problem with a Cardinal player calling the media on
things that it has no clue about. I have long complained in this
space that the Cardinals management, led by Walt Jocketty, are cheap
shot artists who use the media to cast aspersions on players who they
wish to trade. They did it to Ray Lankford, Fernando Tatis, and now
they did it to Tino Martinez.

My speculation is that Martinez was not a "clubhouse problem" as he
was made out to be by Jocketty's sock puppets at the Post-Dispatch.
Rather, the team finally decided to dump him (a long overdue decision)
and then decided to rough him up in the press. That's been their
pattern, and it's disgraceful.

OTOH, Morris is wrong when he says that "The reason we didn't win
wasn't because of Tino . . .." To the contrary, Martinez was one of
the biggest reasons why the Cardinals didn't win this division this
year. He was just awful.

Being a swell guy doesn't win games. Constantino was one of the worst
firstba***** in the majors the past two seasons, just as many of us
predicted that he would be when the Cardinals signed him two years
ago.

The $22 million the Cardinals flushed down the toilet on 12/7/01 in
the signing of Martinez was one of the major reasons why they finished
in third, rather than in first, place in 2003.

I want the Cardinals to win, though, Dan. If you're serious about
keeping Martinez, I can't believe that you want the same.

--
Lance lbfjd@altamont.net

"I believe in the Church of Baseball." -- Annie Savoy


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rob haneberg

Some combination of the Cardinals brass and the St. Louis media has not
handled these transactions very well, at least on the public side. That
said, Morris did imply the Cardinals traded Tino as much for Tino's
desire to play fulltime near his home as for baseball reasons.

--
Heck, we have the technology to make crop circles in our cornfields. The aliens
would have been a lot more effective if they'd fused beach sand into circles or
painted a happy face on the moon.
- Tom Bakos

rob haneberg

I am sick of Tino, but I think this overstates the case. Tino was below
average for a 1B, but he was not a Greg Vaughn/Rey Ordonez sinkhole.
Furthermore, excluding Tino's salary, Jocketty still had $75 million to
invest. The problem was Jocketty (or LaRussa/Duncan) invested much of
the "marginal" money in 2003 about as badly as I invested in individual
stocks. They badly mis-valued Borbon, Carpenter, Fassero, Hamilton,
Hermanson, Levine, Painter, Simontacchi, Springer, Stephenson, Tomko and
Yan, and they misused Kline, Morris and Williams and maybe Crudale and
Isringhausen (2003 being a consequence of 2002's actions; Hermanson
might belong in the "misused" category, too).

It is difficult to imagine anyone making worse decisions than what the
Cardinals made with the pitching in 2003. Heck, Sterling Hitch**** was
the second-best starter at the end of the season. Their second-best
reliever was Kiko Calero, who only pitched half a season and would have
been sent down in April if Isringhausen had been ready. All this tells
me Tino's role in the failures of 2003 is at most minor.

--
Heck, we have the technology to make crop circles in our cornfields. The aliens
would have been a lot more effective if they'd fused beach sand into circles or
painted a happy face on the moon.
- Tom Bakos

thesonoftruth

Am I the only one who has just a slight bit of suspicion as to how much of that
article really consists of Matt Morris' actual words?

"And we wave at the people who frown
at our hair as we ride into town" - The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

atlanta cardfan

Lance, haven't seen you up here for awhile, and I know you've been
swamped. Did you get my keepers for the Cardinal Fantasy League?

Paul

cardsfan

Probably. It is a "letter to the editor" and by its content and tone it was
unsolicited.

I'll bet you really had fun lately with all the JFK specials.

AJM

rob petrie

x-no-archive: yes


I was going to respond to your point, Lance, but Tino wasn't the main
reason the Cards finished 3rd, and I agree with Rob. It was that worst
relief (and some starting) pitching I've seen on a Cardinals team since
1980; maybe 2003 actually beat 1980 in worseness because the Cards still
came *this* close to winning.


You hit where the problem with the Cards was in 2003--the relief and
starting pitching. Tino's numbers would have been tolerable if it wasn't
for the pitching. So you can't just say Tino was the main problem. Given
two decent relievers and one better starter than Simontacchi or Tomko
through June, even w/o Izzy until July, and the Cards would have easily won the division.

Yes, the pitching stunk up the joint and caused the Cards to wind up in
3rd, with or without TM.