The never-ending saga of Brandon Morrow has taken another twist. The Mariners now appear inclined to continue his transition into a starter while having him remain in the majors -- and, for now, in the rotation.
Fresh off Morrow's struggling start Saturday, in which he walked four in three innings (but, in fairness, struck out four and gave up just one run), manager Don Wakamatsu just told us that Morrow will start Thursday's game in San Diego.
This is from last Wednesday:
Just got done talking with Brandon Morrow, who confirmed what's been known internally within the team for some time. He's off to Class AAA Tacoma to work on becoming a starting pitcher again as soon as the Mariners can call up pitcher Roy Corcoran from his injury rehab assignment. Might happen this week.
"It's going to be the long road this time,'' he said. "Last year, it was the month in AAA and everybody knew I was coming back.''
Four days after saying that, Morrow's penciled in for his second big league start in a row.
I get that Washburn's back is stiff. I get that they don't think RRS is ready yet. I get that Wakamatsu is a fan of Morrow's stuff. But for heaven's sake, just give Jakubauskas the start and let Morrow start learning in a more appropriate environment. This on-the-job training strategy just doesn't at all strike me as the right thing to be doing, certainly not with the team still trying for the playoffs.
How hard is it to just do what you said you would do?