Twins killers

If the Twinkies miss out on the playoffs by a game, the past few are going to hurt in the offseason. The Mariners are playing a team trying real hard to win and are managing to not embarrass themselves in the process. Hopefully management can realize you can have it both ways- play the kids to see what your future looks like while at the same time putting a competitive team on the field. I just hope when September comes around they continue to give others playing time- we know what the veterans can do and have last place to show for it.

A real question mark going in to next season is of course Morrow. I have long expressed my skepticism that the transition will be smooth, as I feel he has never been given the time to develop as a starting pitcher and I don't think Tacoma is just about "stretching out his arm."

The ideal plan sees Morrow invited to spring training as a starter (with the bullpen completely out of the question) and see if he is really, truly ready to start. If the team has any reservations at all, send him back to AAA. Morrow won't like it, but he never should have been in the majors all this time anyway so just suck it up and get you act together. A few more months learning to see if you can be a starter will be put millions more in your back account over time, so let's keep the sob stories out of the paper as much as possible.

I see Morrow likely being ready to face Major League hitters and being effective in July of next year. The Mariners plan on calling him in up a few weeks. I expect September to be a little rough.

I hope Brandon proves me wrong.