As reported by FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal , the Blue Jays have traded RHP Brandon League to the Mariners in exchange for RHP Brandon Morrow. The Blue Jays will also be sending another prospect to the Mariners to complete the deal.
The other prospect coming the Mariners to complete the deal will probably be significant, so I am going to wait to see who it is before I say which team got the better of this trade.
What I will comment on is the two players involved in the trade, as I have watched them a lot over the last couple of years.
Lets start with League.
League has always been an enigma to me. He really reminds me of another former Blue Jay, Billy Koch.
Koch threw extremely hard, but was extremely hittable. On one pitch, Koch would make a hitter look very foolish, but then on the next pitch he would throw a flat, 96 mph fastball and the ball would get ripped into the gap for a double.
I feel like League is the same way. League throws in the upper-90’s and can’t strike anyone out. It’s puzzling to me.
However, League did strike out a career high 9.2 batters/nine innings last year. But I feel that with his stuff, League should be striking out more than a batter per inning.
League will join Mark Lowe and Sean White as right-handed set-up men in the Mariners’ bullpen. If the Mariners can harness League’s ability, the Mariners have the makings of a very good bullpen.
As for Morrow, the former crown jewel of the Mariners’ farm system should get a fresh start in Toronto. Morrow, who was the fifth pick in the 2006 draft, never really had a role with the Mariners.
He kind of fell into that Joba Chamberlain issue of whether or not he was better suited to be a starter or a reliever. The Mariners brought Morrow up as a reliever, but transitioned him to a starter towards the end of the 2008 season.
In his first start of the season on Sept. 5th against the New York Yankees, Morrow threw a one-hitter over 7.2 innings. In my opinion, that might have been the worst thing to ever happen to Morrow.
I believe he is better off as a closer and that one-hitter raised expectations of Morrow as a starter. In 2009, the Mariners started Morrow off in the bullpen but again moved him into the starting rotation. And once again, Morrow pitched a one-hitter in September, this time against the Oakland A's.
While Morrow has had flashes of brilliance as a starter, his makeup leads me to believe that he will be better suited as a closer.
The Mariners must believe that Morrow’s long-term future is in the bullpen as well, otherwise trading a 25-year old starter for a middle reliever makes no sense.
As soon as the other prospect is announced, I will update this post and talk about who got the better of this trade on paper.
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