In what will come as a surprise to… very few let’s say, Cubs closer* Brandon Morrow will not appear for the Chicago Cubs in the 2019 season. I’m not trying to make light of a bad situation or belittle his contributions to the Cubs, but the writing has always seemed to be on the wall, no matter the optimism associated with any of his updates. It feels like he’s spent more time on the injured list in his career than he hasn’t. He’s batting 1.000 when it comes to the IL.
It sucks too, the dude was lights out to start his Cubs career. In the 2017-2018 offseason, Morrow was signed to a 3-year, $30 million dollar deal, with the final season including a team option at $12 million or a $3 million buyout. Pretty sure it’s gonna be door number two, so his total hit is $21 million. Not a total bust as he was 22-24 in save chances to accompany a 1.47 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Beautiful.
His injury history and frankly his bad luck with injuries chose to rear its head. Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Those two issues took place barely a month apart. Like I said, it sucks, but it should surprise no one.
He has an injury history, and we knew that going in. That’s part of the calculation when we signed him.
-Theo Epstein end-of-season news conference, October 3rd, 2018
While it’s possible he and the Cubs can come to terms on a show-me deal, I think we may have seen the last of Brandon Morrow in a Cubs uniform. It was great while it lasted. Did you know he once threw a 17K one-hit shutout? Poetically, that one hit came with two outs in the ninth inning while up 1-0, on a misplayed groundball (2:45 in the video below). The man standing on first base after drawing a four-pitch walk in the previous at-bat was now beloved Cub and master of the strike zone Ben Zobrist. The game was against Joe Maddon‘s Tampa Bay Rays. Baseball, man.
Featured Photo: Chicago Tribune
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