Congrats to Brandon League Making the All Star Team

Wally West · Post #1 » by **Wally West** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 5:55 pm

I still can't believe that he's having the kind of year that he's having with 21 saves in 24 chances but something's gotta give. I'm still banking on the fact that Morrow makes more all star appearances in the future than League does.

torontoaces04 · Post #2 » by **torontoaces04** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 5:58 pm

blackflash234 wrote:I still can't believe that he's having the kind of year that he's having with 21 saves in 24 chances but something's gotta give. I'm still banking on the fact that Morrow makes more all star appearances in the future than League does.

remember when we were all talking about this trade like it was the steal of the century?? hahaha! congrats to league.

Wally West · Post #3 » by **Wally West** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 6:05 pm

torontoaces04 wrote:
blackflash234 wrote:I still can't believe that he's having the kind of year that he's having with 21 saves in 24 chances but something's gotta give. I'm still banking on the fact that Morrow makes more all star appearances in the future than League does.

remember when we were all talking about this trade like it was the steal of the century?? hahaha! congrats to league.

Yeah loool ! I was one of the main perpetrators of the fact that we stole Morrow from Seattle. I still feel that way because Morrow has the kind of stuff to be an ace in the future. I just think that he was derailed this year by injuries this year and never really got himself in any type of rhythm. But I expect to see Morrow in a few all star games in the near future.

Hoopstarr · Post #4 » by **Hoopstarr** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 6:12 pm

It will always be a huge steal for us. Good for League, though. He's learned to use his ridiculous 96mph sinking fastball more judiciously and added a split finger to his repertoire of ground ball inducing pitches.

Avenger · Post #5 » by **Avenger** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 6:15 pm

I don't know how a meaningless all star game selection changes how you view the trade. If anything that trade is looking better this year, people were concerned about Johermyn Chavez's numbers last year but some of us said he'd come crashing down to earth in a more hitting neutral environment and that's exactly what's happened.

Morrow's ERA may not look impressive but he's sustained that outrageous K/9 from last year and his walks are down a little bit, he's still got a chance to put legit Ace numbers.

Post #6 » by **Schad** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 6:20 pm

torontoaces04 wrote:
blackflash234 wrote:I still can't believe that he's having the kind of year that he's having with 21 saves in 24 chances but something's gotta give. I'm still banking on the fact that Morrow makes more all star appearances in the future than League does.

remember when we were all talking about this trade like it was the steal of the century?? hahaha! congrats to league.

It still was a huge steal. League is a massively ordinary reliever whose presence on the All-Star team owes to two things: Safeco Field (he has an ERA of 6.43 on the road), and the fact that Seattle's terrible offense means that more games end in save opportunities.

That`s why the All-Star Game is perfectly meaningless. Well, that and the fact that Derek Jeter will start while none of Alexis Ramirez, Yunel Escobar and Elvis Andrus make the team.

torontoaces04 · Post #7 » by **torontoaces04** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 6:47 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:
torontoaces04 wrote:
blackflash234 wrote:I still can't believe that he's having the kind of year that he's having with 21 saves in 24 chances but something's gotta give. I'm still banking on the fact that Morrow makes more all star appearances in the future than League does.

remember when we were all talking about this trade like it was the steal of the century?? hahaha! congrats to league.

It still was a huge steal. League is a massively ordinary reliever whose presence on the All-Star team owes to two things: Safeco Field (he has an ERA of 6.43 on the road), and the fact that Seattle's terrible offense means that more games end in save opportunities.

That`s why the All-Star Game is perfectly meaningless. Well, that and the fact that Derek Jeter will start while none of Alexis Ramirez, Yunel Escobar and Elvis Andrus make the team.

But Derek Jeter is the highest paid SS, so doesn't that mean he's the best??

Michael Bradley · Post #8 » by **Michael Bradley** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 7:28 pm

League's numbers look very ordinary to me. He likely got in solely due to the high saves total, which doesn't really mean much in the long run. He is not even the best reliever in his own pen.

That trade is still a steal in Toronto's favor. Morrow hasn't broken out yet, and maybe he never will, but even at his current rate he is a very good starter and that is far more valuable than a non-Rivera reliever. A pitcher who limits hits, limits home runs, has a manageable walk rate, and strikes out 11 per nine is usually going to end up with good numbers by the end of the season. Hopefully that is the case for Morrow.

hyper316 · Post #9 » by **hyper316** » Sun Jul 3, 2011 8:54 pm

i guess it's good for seattle fans, so they dont feel we ripped them off too bad.

DonYon · Post #10 » by **DonYon** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 4:01 am

The outcome of this trade never really hinged too much on Morrow's production and the Jays still got to take a chance of a high potential arm for a small cost. He seem to have a habit of completely blowing up for 5 + runs just when you think he's getting it together. I don't see him ever being all-star caliber because of his lack of control. If he does ever make it it'll probably as a result of wins + leading the league in K's or something.

Skin Blues · Post #11 » by **Skin Blues** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 8:07 am

DonYon wrote:it'll probably as a result of wins + leading the league in K's or something.

Yeah, silly little things like that :roll:

I'll take dominance with some stinkers mixed in over consistent mediocrity any time.

wazabifuzz · Post #12 » by **wazabifuzz** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 3:34 pm

This was a good baseball trade for both teams, not a lopsided deal.

James_Raptors · Post #13 » by **James_Raptors** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 4:36 pm

I still think Morrow can be special.
He has electric stuff over the course of watching baseball the past few decades I've seen alot of situations where guys like this just "get it" one day, week, month or whatever and then they are virtually locked in for the rest of their career. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part. He just seems to have such dominant stuff when he puts it together. Hopefully he can harness it for us.

MikeM · Post #14 » by **MikeM** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 4:50 pm

League's got a nice GB% but his HR/FB% has always been above 14% and this year it's at 3%.

Plus he's got a nice park and those beasts in the OF who get to everything. He's just a solid MLB RP.

Hoopstarr · Post #15 » by **Hoopstarr** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 6:31 pm

His park-adjusted xFIP is 3.20, which is still lower than his ERA. He's better than just solid.

Skin Blues · Post #16 » by **Skin Blues** » Mon Jul 4, 2011 8:37 pm

wazabifuzz wrote:This was a good baseball trade for both teams, not a lopsided deal.

There's no way this can be justified as a good trade for the Mariners. The only explanation is they didn't know how good Morrow actually was, because if they knew he was this good they would have got a lot more than a decent middle reliever in return.