Dave On Radio Times Two
Dave · May 20, 2009 at 9:43 am · Filed Under Mariners
I’ve got two radio interviews today, starting off with Brock and Salk at 11:25. Then, at 4:20, I’ll be on with Sean Widmer. You can listen to both through their linked websites.
Speaking of Mike Salk, I have a feeling we’ll be talking about a piece he wrote on Brandon Morrow’s development. He compared how the M’s handled Morrow to how the Red Sox handled Daniel Bard, who is actually a very good comparison for Morrow, and how the Dodgers handled Clayton Kershaw. He also interviewed Morrow yesterday, and delved into the starter/reliever issue. Both his piece and the interview are worth checking out.
Dave, any thoughts on your WSJ colleague’s “misery index”? I would be very happy for Mariner batters to be seeing more pitches per at-bat, which was an element in the index.
Currently Listening to the live stream. Who are these people that call in? The problem with last night was “a lack of rally?” Can you really be that ignorant without it being willful?
Also currently listening. Cracked up on the “lack of rally” call too.
Right now, Salk is pointing out that Wak is barking up the wrong tree complaining about the 5 stolen bases, because the Anaheims were 5 for 8, which is 62.5%. Anything under 75% is costing you runs. Salk just pointed out that those three CS were over 10% of their outs, just given away.
The more I listen to Salk, the more I like him. Even if he thinks it’s Skag-It county. Haven’t heard him try Poo-Yall-Op or Sek-Whim yet.
It’s a shame that the root of so many of our organizational and individual problems is ignorance or stubbornness. Morrow has been set up to fail by this stupid approach.
Huh. I think I like Salk. I made the same comment earlier this morning in the Felix thread…
I thought the Morrow interview was interesting. He basically said he wanted to go to the ‘pen because he wanted to assure himself a spot on the big club rather than go down to Tacoma to continue working on things.
I don’t think he knows what the hell he really wants.
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The Brock And Salk interview is now up on their archive page.
WRT Morrow, we should note that Dave more or less predicted that Morrow wouldn’t want to go back to the minors and spend a lot of time working his way up to being a starter once he’d tasted life in the big leagues. Or course the organization has to take a lot of the blame for rushing him into that taste in the first place.
I can respect a situation where his diabetes doesn’t allow him to be a regular starter, but enough though he’s apparently said that’s an issue at other times, he seemed to deny it in this interview. He put his entire motivation on his desire to be with the big league club.
(He seems to go back and forth on these two points, saying different things to different people, so it’s unclear if he even knows which it is. It could be when he’s feeling tired he thinks that the diabetes really would be a limiting factor, and when he’s not tired he doesn’t. Or it could be that the “big league life” is the real motivation, but sometimes when he hears himself saying that he thinks it sounds crass and he falls back on his health concerns as an excuse. Who knows.)
Yes, he’s been wild. But when he does throw the fastball in the stirke zone against a good fastball hitting team, they deposit in the seats. He hasn’t tried to throw anything but fastballs, and that shows he doesn’t trust those other pitches. He was hurt, he didn’t get much spring training, and he’s clearly rusty. A few bullpen sessions aren’t enough to fix that. But even if he could “throw his fastball for strikes” he’s not Mariano Rivera. He needs another pitch. Otherwise his fastball will get clobbered. And he knows it.
Who the hell is his agent? Did anyone ‘splain to him that mediocre relievers are worth about bupkis on the FA market, while even mediocre starters can expect to cash in to the tune of $5+ M a year after their indentured servitude?
I understand the diabetes complicates matters. Maybe he’d only make one start a week, but if he started say 25 games and averaged 6 IP per, that’s 150 IP for the year, nearly twice what he’s going to get as a reliever. 150 Innings of ~4.00 FIP sounds good to me. And if it turned out he couldn’t keep up the starting role, at least he’d have a secondary pitch to use from teh bullpen. The current plan really just doesn’t have any way of working – they’ve got to try something else.
Yeah, that was my general impression during the Spring when it was announced that he was going to the pen at his request. I would guess that he’s like most 20-somethings and has no general clue what he really wants out of what he’s doing with his life. Whatever the case, though, I think the club’s usage of him the other night was excellent. Give him multiple innings in lower level stress situations to try and work on all his pitches. And if that doesn’t work, send him to the minors to work on it. He needs innings at this point, and I hope that the organization isn’t afraid to find a way to give them to him.
The diabetes arguement is bunk. I didn’t hear the new interview – did he use that argument again? Having a very close family member with type 1 diabetes (that’s the commonly known “childhood” diabetes that Morrow has), I know that the disease is very manageable and someone with his resources shouldn’t have any problem managing it and still performing at the highest level as a starting pitcher. If anything, being a reliever has the potential of being more difficult with the disease. If he’s using that as an excuse then he needs to consult a new doctor and a certified diabetes educator.
missed the interview, so I may not have the right context, but perhaps they intended to say “a lack of rally fries“…
… as you were.
But he didn’t.
42 pitches, 9 non-fastballs (6 sliders, 2 changeups, 1 curveball).
I don’t know if you can consider this “working” on his pitches. Gah. Felix and Morrow seem to be suffering from the whole “radar gun” syndrome – wanting to throw nothing but gas.
To Felix and Morrow – your job is to get outs without giving up runs and to go deep into games – NOT to strike out batters. Accumulating K’s is a side-effect of achieving that objective.
There’s your memo guys… now let’s get that light bulb burning and get with the program.
could not manage to get the live feed to play for Sean Widmer’s show. What was covered?
I think before the M’s ever draft another pitcher so high, they need to really try to find out if he’s got the drive and work ethic to be a starter. I’m really disgusted by Morrow and Aumont. If you want a reliever, just dip your hand into a barrel of hundreds of bodies and see what sticks to the wall.
I won’t mention his name…we’re sick of hearing his name…moderate me if you want…but I’ll bet he’s got amazing competitiveness, and I’d wager that it drips off of him (the USSM’s Lord Voltemort of young MLB pitchers). He, who’d throw 150 pitches if you left him out there, and battle until his arm fell off.
Damn you, Morrow and Aumont!
Voldemort, with a “d.”
That’s what happens when Bavasi had Squiggy as a scout for the Mariners.
You know what? I’m a proponent of telling Morrow “Listen, fella…you have maybe two years of big-league service time and you’re not even 25….whattaya afraid of, that you go back to the minors to become a better pitcher, you’re not gonna make it back? Get over there and throw 40% breaking pitches.”
If he’s genuinely against starting, great. Fine. That tells me he wants to be trade-bait somewhere down the line.
But an arm like his is best as a starter, he just needs to learn how to pitch without relying so much on a great fastball- I remember Jim Palmer said “great starting pitching is dependent on learning to survive”. Send Morrow to Triple-A so he can learn how to survive.
The majors are not a damn development league.
Hell, Brandon…learn to cut it like Rivera or Pettitte does. Learn a split. If you don’t have a feel for the change, there’s a sinker or slider out there you probably can master.
I agree with what someone else said earlier: who is Morrow’s agent, and why is he doing such a shitty job advising him?
I am also afraid Felix might well warrant looking at very closely- the inconsistency year after year is maddening. But I also am thinking the instant he puts on pin-stripes or any other uniform, he becomes The King, period…and makes us look like utter idiots for giving up on him.
And just to pose the question….Clement. Morrow. Felix. Who as an organization is getting less out of their on-hand, young, premium talent than what we are??