=== To MORRRRRow, To MORRRRRow Dept. ===

As with Brandon Morrow's career to date, this 80-year-old song works beautifully -- provided you are a viewing it as a 4-year-old child on an ice cream bender:

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!

....................

Interesting thread at Mariner Central, where Alaska hooks us up to a completely daffy Morrow interview. In it, he reveals that he bailed on the #3 rotation slot because:

1. He lost his bottle of Acai Berry
2. Because he might have had to work on his game in Cheney
3. Carlos Silva threatened to "throw him up against a wall" if Morrow scabbed his job
4. It suddenly hit him what the taxes are on $18,000,000 per season
5. Jack Zduriencik meant to hole-punch his Polar Express ticket with "BELIEF" and missed a letter
6. The Curse of the Bambino is chicken feed next to The Curse of Lincecum

.....................

Anyway ...

=== INMATES RUNNING THE ASYLUM? Dept. ===

We tend to get more worried than we should, when we hear about teams accommodating players' wishes as to position and batting order. Hey, homeys, the days of Vince Lombardi are long gone and they ain't comin' back. These players are corporations, and 21st-century sports franchises *partner* with the players.

If Morrow's heart wasn't going to be in starting -- hypothetically, of course -- then you're better off deferring. Fighting a golden boy like Morrow on something like that is a good way for a rookie GM to Dan Duquette himself.

So, no, there's no need to panic that the Mariners shared the decision with the player. That's sports these days, amigos.
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=== TERRELL OWENS NARCISSM? Dept. ===

It's also not necessarily the end of the world that Morrow fought to stay in the big leagues.

Next time you want a break from re-reading the classics (Tale of Two Cities, Dune, Dr. D's writeup on Tim Lincecum, etc), go to your dog-eared copy of Ball Four. Check Bouton's chapter entitled, "I Died Last Night." In it, Bouton does an awesome job getting across just how player feels when getting The Death Penalty as regarding the 25-man roster.

As fans on the outside, we don't have much of a feel for just how important it is to players to stay in The Show. Is it important to you that your family not get foreclosed on, and sleep in the street until some indeterminate future date? It's important to ballplayers not to get powerflushed out of the Caesar's Palace that is Safeco Field.

We can go ahead and complain that athletes should see the bigger picture. The boss says things like that to you when he gives you a pink slip, and it doesn't help you there, either ... :- )

So Brandon gets a pass on that from Dr. D, too.
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=== ON THE OTHER HAND, Dept. ===

What Brandon Morrow does NOT get a pass on, is the very idea that he might not want the biggest role, the biggest stage, the biggest challenge he can.

So you draft Kevin Durant, and tell him you want him to take 25 shots a game, and Durant says, ummmmmmm.... actually I'm comfortable as a 6th man, and I like setting teammates up. Remember Derrick McKey?

How many Jason Vargases or Ryan Rowland-Smiths, much less Tim Lincecums or Jered Weavers, have you ever even heard of, pull that kind of malarkey? :-/ When a guy tells you he doesn't want the bright lights, it just sets off HUUUUUUGE alarm bells.

Dr. D's alarm bells were, unfortunately, going off on draft day, and it was nothing more than a vibe. Those alarm bells are clanging in his head worse now. Trust me, with the other noises in there, it isn't helpful.

..................

Don't tell me that closing IS the bright lights. Don't bring that weak slop in the paint, Pau. Do you see Erik Bedard begging off of his 100 pitches, so he can go rip off a 60-for-60 in save opps? What would you think of him if he did? Starting's where it's at. You close if you can't start.

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=== HEALTH CLUB Dept. ===

Can you believe anything Brandon says in public anymore? What does D-O-V make of the lad's most recent version of the truth?

Well ... Lonnie's fascinating comments being well taken ... Dr. D never bought the claim that, hey, I could start fine in college, but now my head gets too woozy. I can't figure out when to hit the insulin pump now that my symptoms have progressed. You buy that? Nada.

The whole "it hits me when I warm up to start" thing is about as credible as a Senate cross of a Supreme Court nominee. Ah! And your dog ate the resin bag.

That said, you have to believe Brandon on this "I just didn't want to go to the minors" confession, simply because people don't lie to embarrass themselves. :- )

Personally, I'm quite confident that Brandon Morrow could get a feel for when to administer his medicine if that were his only route to the big leagues. But that's just my opinion, Dennis.
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=== To MORRRRRow, Dept. ===

Don't doubt Brandon Morrow's talent, and don't doubt his ability to help quickly as a starting pitcher.

I'm the guy's biggest critic, and even I acknowledged him as a legit #1 overall, the year he came out. There wasn't an ML org in the game that had him outside their top 5. ... you had James' comment this last winter, you have the K rates, you have the flashes against the Yankees, etc. etc. Brandon Morrow isn't one more hot pitching prospect. Morrow is special. He's a #1 draft pick.

Also don't doubt his ability to throw strikes, because:

1. His mechanics are superb. (Why does this not gain traction?)

2. He has DONE it, for stretches of time, and he has done it in the major leagues. In the entire 1st half of 2008, he had 42 strikeouts vs 11 walks. You're not talking about a Daniel Cabrera who has never thrown strikes, and never will.

3. Even if Morrow were a Daniel Cabrera for two years -- fanning 9 men a game but running a 4.90 ERA -- so what? In 2007, Ervin Santana's third year in the Angels' rotation, he ran a 5.76 ERA. The Seattle mentality is that you have 30 days before we move on.... :- )

.......................

Nobody blames the Mariners for bearing with Brandon Morrow's preferences last time around. The time has come to rescue him, both his head and his career, by telling him how it will be.

Ten starts in Cheney to get his groove on, and then you're our #4. Next subject.

BABVA,
Dr D