The St. Louis Cardinals’ ace pitcher, Matt Morris has a letter-to-the-editor today in the St. Louis Dispatch, defending the character of Tino Martinez, who was recently traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There was noise out of St. Louis this past season that Martinez was a disruptive force in the clubhouse. Morris calls out a Novembeer 23rd article written Bryan Burwell–and if anyone has a link to the piece, please send it along–and basically goes on to say what a stand-up guy Martinez is:

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 every day 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.

When he played for the Yanks I found Tino to be a high-strung guy, even a bit of a red ass, but not a jerk. It says something about him that one of his former teammates would be willing to defend him in print.

Update: Here is the Burwell article. Thanks to Pete Patton for the hook-up and peace to my man Repoz at Baseball Primer for the link to the Morris letter.