Rotation Jumble

by ~ June 14th, 2009 at 11:20 am

Sunday: Jason Vargas
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: Felix Hernandez
Wednesday: Garrett Olson
Thursday: Brandon Morrow
Friday: Jarrod Washburn
Saturday: Erik Bedard

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  • SABR Matt

    It’s only going to get more complicated when the Mariners call up Rowland-Smith. Olson will go back down to the bullpen and the Ms will have to make a decision between Morrow in AAA and RRS in the rotation or Morrow in the rotation and RRS in the bullpen as a second lefty.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I’d like to see Morrow and RRS kept in Tacoma for a while. Give the open rotation spot to Jaku or Olson.

  • micahjr

    RRS is not coming back, he is topping out at 88 on his fastball, and sitting 84-86. Something is wrong, and I expect him to go to the DL.

    For the record, I’m neutral on Morrow and Tacoma, vs. Morrow in Seattle. I think Rick Adair should be able to do more for him than any Tacoma coaching, and the level of competition will force him to play up. Given his makeup, I don’t think that Brandon will have a problem adapting. In Tacoma, he is in a less pressurized situation, i.e. no playoff race, etc… However, if he is driven to succeed, Morrow will create his own pressurized situation.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I’ll agree with you that RRS is broken, but I don’t agree with you on Morrow.

    Being driven to succeed is what leads him to rely on his fastball, his only somewhat-consistent weapon. The “splitter” that he was throwing in his last start wasn’t a splitter at all (or a slider or a change), but a curveball that he failed to properly execute. Effective, sure, but not what he was going for. He needs to go to Tacoma where he can work on his command and secondary offerings without the negative playoff implications should he get hit. Morrow needs to be allowed to give up 5 or 6 runs in the name of working out the kinks. He cannot develop as a starter as long as he is trying to win ballgames at the big league level.

  • Slurve

    I’ve been wondering if Morrow has dropped the splitter completely in favor of a change-up since it looks like he’s been working on a FB/SL/CH repertoire and Morrow said it himself he hasn’t thrown a SPL since 07.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    Morrow throws a fastball, curve and a split/change. No true splitter, no slider. Again, the pitch he’s been throwing that sometimes *looks* like a splitter or slider is actually a curveball in which he doesn’t fully supinate his wrist.

  • Slurve

    Looks like the only thing that Morrow needs is time in an enviorment where the results don’t matter and he can throw his secondary offerings and fully get them to work.

  • SABR Matt

    Morrow needs more than secondary pitches…he needs to focus every time he pitches on his pure mechanics…his fastball command is abysmal when his mechanics say he should have great command (he’s butter smooth out there…there’s no reason his delivery can’t be repeatable).

  • Slurve

    Well if he gets sent down he has until September to fix things up since this will be his last option and I think they want everything to be OK before he comes back up.

  • SABR Matt

    Options work in years…this would be his last option-YEAR…they can call him up and send him down all they want for the rest of this season