Elaine Thompson
In other years, Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Brandon Morrow would have tried to pitch through the soreness he felt in his shoulder before his scheduled start last Friday.
At 25, he's smarter and more experienced, so he decided not to pitch against the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, Fla. He understands that it's easier to deal with a small problem now, instead of a bigger one later.
"It's better to take the week off now than two weeks in the middle of May or June or whatever," Morrow said Tuesday at Dunedin Stadium, during an off-day in the team's Grapefruit League schedule.
"I've had it a few times over the last few years. It's mainly been a spring training thing. A lot of people get similar stuff, you hit that wall and you get over the hump and it doesn't bother you anymore."
The Blue Jays are certainly hoping that's the case with Morrow, who figures to be the team's No. 3 starter behind Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero.
All signs are pointing in that direction, as a doctor has cleared him to resume playing catch Wednesday and Thursday. He will throw a bullpen session Friday and should be ready to start next Monday.
Morrow came to the Blue Jays in an off-season trade that sent reliever Brandon League and minor-league outfielder Johermyn Chavez to the Seattle Mariners, and he's seen as a big part of the team's future core.
The Mariners once viewed him that way, too, when they made his the fifth player taken in the 2006 draft. Ever since he's bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, something that won't happen with the Blue Jays, who see him as a starter.
This will be the first time he opens a season in a big-league starting rotation, although it was more circumstance than design that put him back in the bullpen last spring.
"Last year started off I was going be a starter and then I got sick and had the flu for two weeks, lost quite a bit of weight, and probably tried to come back a little too quick," Morrow said. "I had the forearm issue and had to sit out some more time for that. There was no realistic way I was going to be able to start the season as a starter at that point, and just went back to the bullpen."
He opened the season as a closer and converted his first six save opportunities but was 0-3 with a 6.38 ERA in 16 relief outings. Because of his short spring training, the bout of shoulder soreness didn't come until late April when he went on the disabled list.
He was moved into the starting rotation in mid-June before being sent to triple-A for 10 starts before rejoining the Mariners. In 10 starts with the Mariners he was 2-1 with a 3.68 ERA.
Morrow also came out of his first spring training in 2007 as a reliever.
"I had no idea what to expect," he said. "I don't think they were looking at me at all for anything until I started throwing good and they realized they had a need in the bullpen at that point for a set-up arm, and I came out and showed them I could pitch in that set-up role."
He pitched the whole season in the majors and appeared in 60 games with the Mariners, all in relief. He was 3-4 with 4.12 earned-run average.
"The following spring, '08, I had gone to Venezuela where I'd started but we traded for Erik Bedard, then signed Carlos Silva," Morrow said. "They told me before spring training that I was going back to the bullpen. So I entered spring training as a bullpen pitcher, and then that season I was stretched out to be a starter at the start of September."
In his first major-league start, a 3-1 win on Sept. 5, he no-hit the New York Yankees for 7 2/3 innings and finished with a one-hitter and nine strikeouts. He gave up a run in the eighth on a walk and a double, which ended his outing. In his five starts that year he was 2-2 with 5.75 ERA.
This year he says he'll be ready to open the season as a starter despite the setback.
"Everything's on schedule," he said.
Meanwhile, at the Blue Jays' minor-league complex Tuesday, Romero threw 88 pitches with 54 strikes over six innings of a minor-league game against the New York Yankees. He allowed one run on six hits and two walks while striking out nine.
"I think the thing right now I'm feeling too good, which scares me," Romero said. "Because I tend to get a little excited and tend to overthrow. But I felt like in the later innings I settled down."
Except for an out at home plate, all of Romero's outs that weren't strikeouts came on grounders.
"It was on the two-seamer, and then a lot of changeups for strikes and the curveball was good," he said. "And I actually had a chance to work on the cutter and I felt I threw some good ones and bad ones."