to MOOOOORRRRRRRRoooooooooowww! Yee-HAH!
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