Brandon Morrow To Start the Season in Tacoma or the Mariners Bullpen

The Seattle Times is reporting that Seattle Mariners pitcher Brandon Morrow will not start the season in the starting rotation.

Morrow will either start the season in the Mariners crowded bullpen or the Mariners Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers.

With Morrow out of the rotation, that obviously leaves all of the other rotation hopefuls a better chance of landing a spot in the rotation. The candidates...

Felix Hernandez (Lock in)
Erik Bedard (Lock in)
Ryan Rowland-Smith (High chance)
Carlos Silva (High chance)
Garret Olson (Hopeful)
Jarrod Washburn (Hopeful)
Chris Jakubauskas (The rookie hopeful)

I believe the rotation will be Hernandez, Bedard, Rowland-Smith, Silva, and Jakubauskas. The latter arm has only an off-chance of making it, but, after his impressive spring (1-0 and a 2.16 ERA) he has came out of nowhere to make his name heard by all of the players, fans, and, most importantly, Don Wakamatsu.

Wakamatsu, the Mariners manager, is the type of skipper that realizes the importance of young pitching in the AL West, as he is now on his third team within the division.

Here's my logic on why Morrow did not find himself a spot in the rotation.

None of the closer candidates are showing any lights-out potential, so I believe Morrow will be the Opening Day closer.

Since Chad Cordero is still injured, once he is healthy then Morrow can move back into the rotation and the Mariners find themselves with an upgrade in the rotation and the bullpen.

At about the same time that Chad Cordero and Tyler Johnson get fully healthy, the Mariners will find themselves with two other high-quality relievers. The first one is the club's first-round pick in the 2008 draft, Joshua Fields, and then Shawn Kelley.

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