Potential Player to Bring Back, and You Might Not Like It
Chicago Cubs closer Brandon Morrow, right, celebrates with catcher Willson Contreras after the Cubs defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 in a baseball game Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
In the 2017/18 offseason, the Chicago Cubs made a decent value signing for possibly the best relief arm on the market. Fresh off setting World Series records for appearing in all seven games, Brandon Morrow was starting to look like a high-risk, high-reward that could pay off for whoever signed him. That whoever ended up being the Cubs. He signed a two-year, $21 million deal with an option for a third year.
It all seemed to be rolling fine. He posted a 1.47 ERA, 2.96 FIP, 1.076 WHIP, and 22 saves and 31 K’s in 30 2/3 innings. Awesome.
But then Morrow started having arm issues. Those arm issues would cause him to miss the remainder of the 2018 season. After some positive reports in Spring Training in 2019, Morrow would still be a couple of weeks away from returning. Then those weeks turned to months. After a setback here or there, he would be pushed back again. Then on August 21st, the Cubs announced that Morrow would be shut down for the second consecutive season.
Regardless of how well he performed in the early part of his Cubs career, his time will be remembered as a bust.
What if the Cubs brought Morrow back?
I know, seriously, I know. Taking a bet on Morrow and actually relying on him to be a big part of the bullpen is setting themselves up for failure. Unless it’s not. Here’s how I can justify it.
There is a $12 million option for the 2020 season on Morrow’s contract. There’s no f*&^$ing way the Cubs would pick that up. But, they will pay the $3 million allowing him to walk. Or, and stick with me here, they split the difference with something based on appearances.
Now, there aren’t a lot of MLB deals where the bulk of the money is tied to appearance incentives. Sure, teams do provide bonuses on certain incentives; performance, appearances, games, at-bats, etc. So, maybe the Cubs do something like paying that $3 million, but then providing him another $2 million deal for 2020, with incentives that could escalate the deal to something in the $7-8 million range? He isn’t going to find a $7 million deal on the free-agent market, and if the Cubs aren’t “counting” on him to be there $2 million isn’t a lot for a relief pitcher. I mean, they paid David Phelps $2.5 million (prorated). If Morrow hits those performance/appearance incentives, the Cubs would gladly pay someone with his ability $7 million in total compensation in 2020.
A reason someone like Morrow might be needed, the Cubs will likely part with Pedro Strop this offseason. While he had a treacherous 2019, he had been a very valuable pitcher for the club over his career. The Cubs will likely try guys like Kyle Ryan, Rowan Wick, and Brad Wieck late in games in 2020, but none of them possess that huge arm that can toss the pill at 98, 99, 100, or 101 MPH. Sometimes, and we are learning this more and more in the current age of baseball, teams need those types of guys.
If the Cubs are making Morrow their number one offseason priority, and re-signing him is their big move – things won’t end well in 2020. But, if they find a way to do a creative signing that doesn’t cost them much and they go into a season not relying on him – bringing him back could be a very good thing.
Oh, and with the Cubs eliminated from the 2019 playoffs, start expecting a lot of these sorts of articles from all your Cubs news sources. There isn’t much optimism to sell for the 2019 season any longer.
