Brandon Morrow

Back in March this year, the feeling around Spring Training was one of cautious optimism. 

After coming off a humbling 75-87 season, the firing of J.P. Ricciardi and the trade of team icon Roy Halladay, the Blue Jays were clearly embarking to rebuild.

Fast forward to May 9, with a record of 19-14, the water cooler talk was all about our "great young arms", our "potent offense" and dare I say it—Wild Card! 

As I write this, my beloved Toronto Blue Jays are sitting third in the AL East (fourth overall in the AL) with an impressive early record of 16-13. This places us a mere four games behind the Yankees, for the Wild Card spot.

It's also May 6.

Have a cup of coffee, rummy.

As the spring games roll on, the focus is going to shift greatly to the pitchers, where there are quite a few interesting battles brewing.  Let’s take a look at how things played out in today’s games:

We've already covered Brandon League, and I've tried to soothe Seattle's uncertain ego by establishing his rising value.

But what about this other guy, Johermyn Chavez?

Chavez is a 6' 3", slugging outfielder whose 220-pound frame will turn 21 on Jan. 26, 2010.

Kid can't even buy a drink yet.

An undrafted righty, Chavez was signed into the Toronto organization in 2005.  In four years in the Blue Jays' farm system, the young Venezuelan has demonstrated developing power.

In 2009, Chavez batted .283 with 21 homers and 89 runs batted in for Class A Lansing.

Two big trades went down a day ago and are on the verge of being official. The big deal involves the Yankees acquiring Javier Vazquez from the Braves for Melky Cabrera and two prospects. Before that deal went down, the Blue Jays and Mariners agreed to trade power throwing right-handers Brandon League and Brandon Morrow. What is the fantasy fallout of these two deals?

Vazquez to the Yankees

When you think of Brandon Morrow, one of the first words that springs to mind is "potential."  It was there for everyone to see during his first career start against the New York Yankees in 2008.

I was lucky enough to be at that game and watch Morrow come within four outs of a no-hitter.  He ended the game with just one hit against him and, more importantly, the win. 

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports is reporting that the Seattle Mariners have traded pitcher Brandon Morrow to the Toronto Blue Jays for reliever Brandon League and a prospect.

According to SI baseball writer Jon Heyman, the Mariners reportedly quashed a deal that would have sent Brandon Morrow and Shawn Kelley to the Tigers for right-handed starter Edwin Jackson.

Now, I’ve made my feelings about Morrow known before—I thought it was a questionable choice to draft Morrow over Lincecum then, and, obviously, how it’s played out has done nothing to dissuade my opinion—so I think this is a curious move by Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik, who I think has done an otherwise fantastic job in the role.

It's quite clear that Brandon Morrow isn't doing well. This much has been obvious since he came off of the DL a little over a week ago.

The burning question is: What needs to be done about him?

Everyone has an opinion as to what the answer of this question is, and one very popular one seems to be: "Make him a starter."

Once again, Brandon Morrow was pulled from closing.

First time, he went to the DL so he was pulled. But this time, he struggled to get a save in two consecutive days. Now, he is pulled from closing.

Since coming off the DL, Morrow gave up six runs in only 1.2 innings. On the first game, he was able to get a save even giving up a run.

But in the second game against the Rangers, he gave up a walk-off two run double to Hank Blalock. And finally, he gave up walk-off two run homer to Chris Davis to lose his closing job.

Enough is enough.