The Best Development Of The Year
Watching Brandon Morrow improve has certainly been one of the silver linings in this cloudy season, and while I’m not rooting for him to implode, I think we should all recognize that him blowing back to back save opportunities might be the best thing that’s happened all year long.
Really, Morrow was dangerously close to earning the proven closer label that gets stuck on anyone who racks up a few saves (just ask Joe Borowski). With his struggles giving up the long ball lately (which really shouldn’t be a huge surprise – he throws a hard four seam fastball up in the zone a lot), that label isn’t going to stick as easily now, and his chance of moving into the rotation in the future improve with every blown save.
That’s how baseball works – the worse Morrow does in the closer’s role, the more likely he’ll end up helping the team more as a starter. It’s a little messed up, but there you go – thanks for not being perfect, Brandon.
Comments
18 Responses to “The Best Development Of The Year”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Yay! I have secretly been rooting for this since he took over the closers role.
Yay for good unintended consequences!
A smarter organization is already stretching out an elite reliever. And last time I checked Joba was pretty awesome coming out of the pen. But the Yankees looked beyond the awesome numbers and understood his value as a starter.
It’s really sad the M’s didn’t attempt to convert Morrow at least a month ago.
Yes, but it still hurts a little.
Dave, Is there a game in Everett that will be a great match up?
I think if they do it, it won’t be until Putz comes back from the DL. If they don’t do it then… I don’t think it will happen ’till ’09.
Uncanny. I was thinking the same thing. Blown saves? Oh noes, make him a starter NOW PLEASE.
Can you believe that this theory works for hitters, too? It’s true! Every out by Jose Vidro is but one step closer to a mob of M’s fans storming Safeco Field, carrying him out of the stadium and tossing him into Puget Sound.
(I can dream, can’t I?)
Here’s what is so disheartening about all of this: what if the M’s had a quality front office, one that all of us had confidence in? So that when Morrow recorded a couple of saves, we’d still all be encouraged about his prospects as a starter. A future the FO would have assured us, by stating publically that Morrow is only closing until Putz is back, and then they can start Morrow on the conversion path.
I mean, the whole premise of Dave’s post is, ‘The Front Office is dumb! Hooray that Morrow failed, so maybe they’ll accidentally make the right decision!’
This depresses me.
This season is a write-off. We are not going to even be .500 by the time it is all said and done. So why not convert Morrow to a starter now? Let him have his struggles if he has them, the team is losing anyways. He’s not going to get run support so he probably won’t rack up a tonne of wins – big deal, none of starters are going to.
Come on, do something right this season M’s…
Give us a reason to watch this team…
I just saw something that said the mets are looking for a corner outfielder, and ibanez is an option…
how is putzie
Um, ‘publically?’ That would be publicly, and yes, that is terrible posting on my part.
I’ve been wondering, now that you’ve had a chance to see Morrow’s non-fastball offerings quite a bit what you think he might do as a starter?
Just remember…more than a few folks think that Morrow should be stretched out…but that it doesn’t have to happen NOW–that the winter league put a few innings on his arm that hasn’t been stretched out much before, and that as long he gets stretched out in a month or so, he’s OK as closer-of-the-moment.
To anybody who can answer this,
How long, realisticly, whould it take Morrow or any reliever really to stretch out their arms?
I think it’s kind of cute when Riggleman thinks he’s doing something effectual like giving the team a post-game “talkin’ to” about the need to stop the mental breakdowns…
Marine Pollution laws are pretty serious. Could be some big fines.
With Morrow, I don’t think the real issue is “stretching out” his arm – it’s developing his secondary pitches. He can’t rely on his fastball (which will be a few mph slower) quite so much as a starter.
They could stretch him out in a winter league somewhere, like they did with RRS … on second thought, never mind.