Brandon Morrow moved to end of Blue Jays’ rotation

Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays confirmed this weekend they are thinking about beginning the year with Brandon Morrow at the back-end of the starting rotation, which Jeff Blair of The Fan 590 and the Globe and Mail said was a possibility on Friday after looking at the team’s depth chart.

Both John Lott of the National Post and Scott MacArthur of TSN shared comments from Blue Jays’ pitching coach Pete Walker. From MacArthur’s article at TSN:

"“Right now we’re kind of looking at him at the end of the rotation right now,” said pitching coach Pete Walker. “Not indicative of how he’s doing or how he’s feeling. It’s just, it seems like the spot we want him right now.”"

In Lott’s post, Morrow acknowledged that the Jays have talked to him about the possibility of being the fifth starter, which I should note would line him up to take the mound Opening Day in Toronto.

"“It was something that was mentioned for like two seconds as a possible, ‘Hey, we’re maybe looking at this,’ ”"

He then added:

"“Number one, I don’t care where I’m pitching,” he said. “Number two, I think it would be exciting, fun and an honour to pitch the home opener. Number three, back in the same slot I was last year would be fine too.”"

From my vague recollection, I thought the Blue Jays slotted in Morrow at number two to start last season behind knuckleballer R.A. Dickey but I could be mistaken. Maybe he was considered to be behind Josh Johnson? Regardless Morrow seems to be taking the high road but if the Jays’ do see him as a back-end starter, it just makes this muddy rotation picture even muddier. It could mean nothing at all, but MacArthur points out something interesting about the fifth stater’s schedule:

"“The Blue Jays have off days on three consecutive Mondays in April: April 7, 14 and 21. The club will require a fifth starter on four occasions during the first month of the season, although Walker and manager John Gibbons will be able to make adjustments as they see fit.”"

It sounds like the Jays might try to take advantage of three consecutive weeks with off days to ease the burden on the back-end of this rather pitiful rotation. Whether or not Morrow is still experiencing issues with his forearm is unknown (the Jays say no) but for now there continues to be more questions than answers when it comes to this year’s edition of the Toronto Blue Jays.