Brandon Morrow: Tres Options for Mariners' Reliever

Brandon Morrow is such a good pitcher, it is flat-out embarrassing that the Mariners are using such a great talent as a set-up man.  He won’t set up many meaningful games for J.J. Putz as the Seattle Mariners are the worst team in baseball right now.

It was nice to have him as a third reliever last year, but now that this season is hopeless, it is pointless to keep him in the bullpen.  Sooner or later, the Mariners will have to convert Morrow from a late-inning reliever to a dominant starting pitcher.

Here are three different options that are on the table regarding Brandon Morrow:

1) One option is to gradually increase his pitch count in the majors while he's in the bullpen.  Slowly but surely his arm will get used to throwing more pitches.  Eventually, the Mariners will be able to put him in the rotation this season.

I’m thinking that the Mariners could do something similar if not the same thing as the Yankees did with their star pitcher, Joba Chamberlain.  This process would probably take two months, meaning we could have Morrow in the rotation by September.

This option would mean a whole lot of growing pains for Morrow. Altering your pitching style and pitching mentality at midseason in the Majors will yield some nasty results.  On the other hand, during this time Morrow will gain invaluable game-experience against the best competition available.

Here is what Jason Churchhill from Prospect Insider proposes:

“Stretch him out into two-inning/30-35 pitch stints out of the pen until the end of the month, then send him to the minors to make 10 starts or so until the middle of August and unless he just looks wretched, call him up and get him 7-8 big-league starts."

2) Another option is to send him straight to Double-A or Triple-A Tacoma.  In the minors, Morrow could gradually increase his pitch count as a starter, as opposed to increasing his pitch count in the majors while in the bullpen.  Before you know it, Morrow will have a handful of starts at the minor league level and would be ready in August if sent down now.

This is a faster way to convert him into a starting pitcher, but he won’t have the experience starting at the major-league level.  The only reason the Mariners would do something like this is if they believed Morrow would hurt their chances of winning if converted mid-season.  But I don’t think the Mariners should be so concerned with winning when their season is all but over.

3) The last thing the Mariners could do is leave Brandon Morrow in the bullpen.  This would be the worst thing the Mariners could possibly do.  In the long run the Mariners will have to turn Morrow into a starter to maximize his potential.  Why not start the process now?

The Mariners aren’t going to the playoffs this season, and it would be a boost to the rotation to have Brandon Morrow as a starting pitcher for the ’09 season. Envision the Seattle Mariners rotation: EriK Bedard, King Felix Hernandez, and lights out Brandon Morrow…

What do you think the Mariners should do with Brandon Morrow at this point in the season?