... is a much, much, much more daunting task than assembling a roster full of talent.
Bavasi actually did his best to assemble talent for his stay -- and we all saw the miserable results.
What Z did in Milwaukee, and what I've been seeing from him in Seattle is that he is *NOT* interesting in simply assembling talent. The Yankees have been assembling talent to beat the band by don't have a title this century. Building a winning ORGANIZATION is much, much harder -- but the rewards are bigger and longer lasting.
Kudos on a great call on Morrow, Doc. But, here's the thing that is really, really subtle, but I believe is playing a MAJOR role in the whole Morrow saga.
1) Morrow comes in as a golden boy and advances to Go, collects his $200, and is a major league reliever. He's got all kinds of nasty stuff. The "pitchers" that cycle through are dreadfully awful journeyman pitchers that don't have nearly the stuff Morrow does - *AND* they have pedestrian to awful results. That creates an environment where Morrow is perfectly justified in assuming ...
A) I'm better than these Bozos.
B) They can't teach me anything.
C) I should be getting these starts over every guy on the staff - except maybe Felix.
2) When Bedard shows up, he comes off as arrogant and standoffish, (especially to the press), but gets hurt, and so doesn't actually get to pitch that much. But, he's a similar "talent" based on casual observation.
3) Morrow has ZERO reason to believe that AAA is going to do him any good at all, because he's been watching the Keystone Kops of a pitching staff for 2 years. When Putz gets flushed, Morrow has every reason to believe he can simply step in and do what Putz did, (especially having watched his pedestrian 2008 performance).
4) And being under the age of 30, Morrow likely Google's himself regularly, so I suspect it's likely he's read MANY articles noting how special he is.
============
So, that was the baseball world he was introduced to the Majors thru. We'll call it, "The Land of the Lost".
Z comes in, and basically throws out the entire ego-centric elitism of the previous regime. When asked to go put in some AAA time to become a starter, he NATURALLY bristles, because he already knows he's way more talented than most of the schlubs. "Make me a closer, boss!" (Putz wasn't all that great, anyway).
Z has stated that he's not after simple talent. He keys on those intangibles that don't show up on radar guns. He looks for baseball INTELLIGENCE. So, he goes out and gets guys like Vargas and Olson. But, Z understands the importance of defense behind these pitchers - and gets F-Gut for CF and Endy for LF. He doesn't have the flexibility to do much about the infield, though.
But, he cedes to Morrow's request/demand, and then Vargas and Olson, (guys of seriously less talent than Morrow), come in and thrive as starters. Meanwhile, Morrow is struggling more and more as "just" a reliever. (He's also being called a wuss all over the web, which he probably knows about, too).
Why is Morrow listening today, but wasn't yesterday?
Because he had the opportunity to *SEE FIRST HAND* the results from pitchers who have put in the time. He is getting to see first hand that a guy like Washburn, with a fraction of the talent, is out-pitching Felix. (And more importantly, out-pitching Morrow). But, I suspect it is mostly the way the other "young" pitchers have stepped in and had success, while Morrow has struggled, that is pushing his reassessment of his situation. Heck, even Jaku has a better ERA than Morrow at this point. With Silva on the DL, Morrow has the most talent and worst ERA on the staff. You could ignore something like that for a week or two -- but a month? Two months? Uh-uh.
You want your really, really talented guys to work harder? Bring in less talented guys who just continue to outperform them. THEN, they might get the message. If not, it won't take long to know you're dealing with a lost cause.
To learn ... first you have to listen.
I study nuclear science
I love my classes
I got a crazy teacher
He wears dark glasses
Things are goin' great
and they're only gettin' better
I'm doin' all right
Gettin' good grades
The future's so bright
I gotta wear shaaaaaades
...................
Sometimes the computer hits you with a shot of seratonin better than any double-scoop of Pralines & Cream could. Sat down just now and read that Brandon Morrow wants to start. Beatifically walked out into the living room. Raised my arms in a Y like Terence doing a Yes Man seminar, threw the head back, beamed for five seconds... my son: what? what? what?
Brandon Morrow.
Wants to ... start. Again.
Son jumps up and down ... are you serious! Really? Are you joking me?
Nerds? But of course. My son's a nerd the size of that big hairy lineman in the original Revenge of the Nerds, so I wouldn't go off on him too bad... :- )
.......................
As you'll recall, this was precisely what Dr. D gingerly predicted, after Morrow lost his job. That Morrow wanted to knock stardom down with a light shove to the shoulder, and that after he found out he couldn't, he'd re-set and decide to put in his roadwork before the fight.
Don't blame him for wanting to stay in the bigs. But now he's gained perspective, that you have to invest some birdseed in the Golden Goose without just slicing it open to find the golden eggs.
He gets a fresh start with me.
.
=== Oh, THAT's Where the Button Is On This Thing Dept. ===
Larry LaRue reports, http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/mariners/2009/06/09/mr_morrow_will_be_st... --
+++++ Morrow, the 24-year-old first-round draft pick in 2005, approached the team last month and told them he’d changed his mind about being a reliever. He wanted to be a starting pitcher.
....... Right or wrong, the team is concerned with his diabetes and isn’t certain Morrow can stand up to the rigors of, say, 175 innings a season. Morrow doesn’t doubt he can start regularly and wants the chance to prove it. +++++
1) I'd be interested to know whether the ballclub secretly finessed this whole situation.
2) Let me meekly note that this vindicates the original assessment that Morrow's diabetes no more prevents him from throwing 7 innings now, than it did in college, and than it did against the Yankees. The whole "it's worst during a long SP warmup" shtick was a "dog ate my homework" line. I'm sure Morrow will be fine physically, as Jason Johnson and Jay Cutler have been.
....................
+++++ Morrow has used the last month to work on mechanics, especially driving his front foot toward the plate, not first base. After an adjustment period, Morrow seems to have taken to the change.
"It gives me more balance, better location," Morrow said. +++++
In a related note, Morrow has decided to pitch while stepping forward with his left foot, rather than his right foot. After becoming comfortable with the adjustment, he seems to have better balance.
How do major-league pitchers come so far, with such weirdly basic flaws? :- )
Anyway. Any golfer can tell you that after he makes a CORRECT change, HIS GAME GETS WORSE. For a short time. Until he leaps a huge plateau afterwards.
Watched Morrow in slo-mo on Tuesday, and his command was terrible. Pitch after pitch, Burke would set the mitt, Morrow would release the pitch, and then Burke would move his mitt 3 feet to catch the ball.
This is a good thing. Morrow is sticking with the mechanical change in game situations, and not chickening out, abandoning the adjustment, taking the easy way out. If he sticks with it, shortly he'll find his new and improved command.
He's also been throwing two good offspeed pitches, one 89 mph, another 85 mph. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shaaaaades
.
=== A PICTURE'S WORTH 1,000 WORDS Dept. ===
In this section are illustrations, not proofs. We're speaking to the visceral, not the legal. :- )
..................
Two-three years for Morrow to develop? Into his 19-6, 3.25 form, maybe. MAYbe. In the meantime, he'll still help. He's going to fan 8-9 men a game, and any SP like that is doing some good things for your team.
Roy Halladay had two weird seasons for the Jays, then helped some in the 3rd year, then became Roy Halladay in year 4. He went 19-7, 2.93, and then won 22 the season after. Sound good?
Kelvim Escobar and Chris Carpenter came up at the same time for the Jays. Fans wanted the 19-7, 2.93 from all of them as rookies. :- ) Carpenter didn't go 15-5, 3.46 until year six, and then went 21-5 the year after. Escobar had 2.5 years of problems, then in year 4 showed the 132 ERA+ form.
So: Halladay year 4, Escobar year 6, Escobar year 4 ... Morrow's in year 3 now. There's no reason in the world that Morrow can't go 19-7, 2.93 next season, and win 22 the year after.
Another recent example: Ervin Jackson in LAA. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/santaer01.shtml Three lousy years, then in year 4 -- 2008 -- he went 16-7, 3.49 with 214 strikeouts.
..................
Go through baseball history and you'll find Morrow comps that jelled in Year 1 ... some that jelled in Year 2 ... some that jelled in Year 3 ... some that jelled in Year 4 ... some that jelled in Year 5 ... some that never did ... you get the idea. We asked James one time when Pitcher X would develop. He said, "this guy WILL jell some time. Expecting it to happen at any particular time is foolish."
Morrow is a legit #1 overall talent. He's S-P-E-C-I-A-L. It's as likely he'll jell this August, as in 2010, as in 2011. But this is one guy worth marrying.
BABVA,
Dr D
Comments
At this point this is the right move.
The whole idea behind moving Morrow to the bullpen was to maximize his stuff and keep him healthy. THAT was a whopping failure.
I still don't think Morrow is going to pan out in the rotation (arm problems due to bad mechanics/genetics, poor command, diabetes, mentally a ?), but we may as well give it a shot.
Yuniesk Betancourt is getting a great opportunity to watch a far less talented middle infielder take his job. And his reaction? He doesn't show up for batting practice, take ground balls, or listen to his coaches at all...he pouts, makes cheap excuses, and boycotts his own life to get back at the boss for benching him.
You know what we call a guy like that?
UNEMPLOYED
Betancourt is about to get his butt sent to A ball...and it's a short hop from there to the waiver wire.
With Bedard scratched due to slight shoulder inflammation (gulp), Morrow gets the start in Colorado tomorrow night (double gulp)
I wouldn't shock me to see the lad simply go out there, bear down, and twirl a gem. It also wouldn't shock me to see him walk six guys.
Sports is just soooooo much a question of mindset.