Why the Phillies Should Trade for Mike Morse…
Here’s an interesting bit by Jim Salisbury…
http://www.csnphilly.com/12/06/10/Amaro-ponders-Browns-readiness-righty-ba/landing_phillies.html?blockID=367793&feedID=704
He suggests trying to get Mike Morse from the Nationals, now that they’ve signed Jayson Werth. It makes way too much sense for the Phillies, and they should at least pursue it. If you’ve watched Morse at all (I live in DC and caught some Nats games aside from the ones they played against the Phillies), you see he has a lot of similarities to Werth, both in build — although more muscular — and hitting ability. He definitely fits the bill as a right-handed power bat (who plays right field!) to protect Utley and Howard. While Morse is not as patient as Jayson at the plate, he strikes out less* and has comparable pop/power. He hits some absolute bombs that would remind you of the unmistakable sound heard when Werth’s bat made perfect contact with the baseball. I’d be all for getting Morse, and it’d be a really shrewd (and probably under-the-radar) move on Amaro’s part. It’s the exact kind of thinking that Pat Gillick exercised when he first got to Philly and started turning this franchise around. It’s what led him to sign Werth, and it’s a big reason why he built a championship team.
I decided to dig deeper into the stats of each player. Morse’s raw talent is obvious, but he has suffered through entire seasons wiped out by injury (sounds familiar). Look at his career totals so far, at age 28:
237 G, .291 AVG / .353 OBP / .456 SLG / .809 OPS, 618 AB, 21 HR, 88 RBI, 33 2B, 48 BB, 145 SO
Compare that to Werth’s career stats when he came to the Phillies in 2007, at age 28:
232 G, .245 AVG / .332 OBP / .420 SLG / .752 OPS, 721 AB, 25 HR, 100 RBI, 39 2B, 87 BB, 232 SO
*(1 in every 3.1 AB for Werth to 1 in every 4.26 AB for Morse, based on the above numbers)
Morse: 6’5” 230
Werth: 6’5” 222
And it’s not like Morse is some slouch athlete, either, especially for his size and build. After all, he was originally a shortstop in the Mariners’ organization. Morse might not be quite the athlete that Werth is (few players are), and he certainly doesn’t run like him, but he has a big, long body and isn’t a plodding liability on the bases (he actually runs pretty well for a guy his size). He’s a HUGE dude, and I might as well throw in that he has a plus arm, too.
I’m not saying… I’m just saying.
Also, Morse had some impressive splits this season:
vs. LHP: .295 / .374 / .625 / .999, 88 AB, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 2 2B, 11 BB, 25 SO
vs. RHP: .287 / .340 / .466 / .806, 178 AB, 7 HR, 23 RBI, 9 2B, 11 BB, 39 SO
His final triple-slash line for 2010: .289/.352/.519 in 293 plate appearances (to go along with 15 HR and 41 RBI).
Here’s the link to Morse’s ESPN.com player page: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6300
Just one guy’s opinion. One last thing to add about the similarities between the two players — both wear #28.
Update (8/16/11): Here we are, 43 games from the end of the season, and Michael Morse is challenging for the NL batting title. I expected a breakout season for the beastly slugger, but nothing like this. Anyone who watched Morse play in previous seasons saw there was a wealth of untapped potential in his game; he just needed to stay healthy, get more of a chance to play everyday, and put it all together. Well, he’s stayed healthy and certainly put everything together, and then some. After struggling in left field, Morse took over as the Nationals’ everyday first baseman once Adam LaRoche suffered a season-ending injury in May. He has adapted to the position exceedingly well, too. Hopefully the move back to left field after the Nats sign Prince Fielder this offseason doesn’t have a negative effect on Morse’s play. I might be a Phillies fan, but I’m also a baseball fan, and I love watching him hit. He’s got monstrous raw power and can launch the ball 500 feet. Put Michael Morse in the 2012 Home Run Derby (he should have been a participant this season), for the sake of the baseball-watching American public. Pretty please. Also, an early candidate to be next season’s Michael Morse: Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder/first baseman Garrett Jones. If he was on a better team, I guarantee you’d already know about him.
