Anthopoulos certainly has made good on his plan, dealing for quality, young, controllable players who can all come up at the same time to forge a core team for the Toronto Blue Jays. So far, he’s dealt for three first round draft picks from the 2006 draft, injecting a much needed influx of high end talent and potential into the Jays’ farm system. His latest swap, of Brandon ‘Mensa’ League for Brandon Morrow, is a good example of the kinds of gambles that he must make in order to build a young competitive core quickly. League, who has all the stuff to be a dominant closer, is well into his arbitration years and while very effective in 2009, simply isn’t needed over the next two years. Morrow, who has shown high end potential but has not been able to effectively muster it yet, gets a second chance to establish himself as a starter with Toronto.
Morrow will likely be helped by the change of scene. Seattle fans have never forgiven him for not being Tim Lincecum, who was drafted after him. The criticism of his abilities, with only the odd sprinklings of admissions that rushing him into the majors and treating him like a yoyo between starting and relief, have been loud in the fanbase, and without cease from the Seattle press for whom Morrow’s development was never fast enough. Add on to that the fact that fans ridiculed him for suffering from diabetes, as if it was some kind of moral lacking, and you have an all together poisonous miasma in which to try and work.
Anthopoulos’ initial comments were not surprisingly well taken by the young pitcher. The Jays essential line is that they see him as being a mid to top rotation starting pitcher, and if that means returning to the minors to rebuild his endurance, focus on his control, and develop some confidence, that’s what they’re willing to do.
"I was never really allowed to develop as a starter the way I and a lot of other people thought I should be allowed to,'' Morrow said. "Hopefully, this new chance means I get to develop as a starter more. Changing roles has just been detrimental to me."
Fortunately, the Jays timeline for Morrow works to his advantage. There is no pressure for him to break camp as part of the starting rotation in the mind of the front office, allowing him the freedom to work on his secondary pitches without having a half dozen première offenses tee off on his mistakes.
“We’ll see what we have in the spring,” said Anthopoulos. “With a guy like Brandon Morrow, we’re going to do what’s best for him. We expect him to come in and compete, and win a starting spot next spring. That being said, if after seeing him and spending time with him we feel like he needs a little time, we might need to send him down.”
Morrow features a devastating four seam fastball and a good power curve that dives away from right-handers. His other two pitches, a change and a slider, are somewhere between inconsistent and ineffectual at the moment. Although, in the fall of 2008, Morrow one hit the Yankees by mixing all four pitches effectively to dominate their lineup. Much like Burnett, consistency is his biggest weakness, both in terms of control and health. Morrow’s 4.9BB/9 is almost double what a starting pitcher should be, especially for a fastball artist. He’ll need to get the ball down and under control first, and then focus on developing his secondary pitches so he’s got the ability to blow the heater past following the setup pitch.
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