Morse could be a pleasant surprise

With spring training, just a little over three weeks away, now is not a bad time for Pirates fans to start pondering what their 2016 lineup will look like.

Pittsburgh appears to be set at most positions. They have the best outfield in baseball, a solid utility man in Josh Harrison, and Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart manning the backstop. If all goes according to plan between now and when the Buccos leave Bradenton, there are two question marks regarding numbers 1-8, and one of them appears to be short-term. Assuming Jung-Ho Kang is not ready for opening day, it’s likely that the slick fielding, light hitting Sean Rodriguez will be your opening day third basemen. Sean-Rod is a great clubhouse guy and can play defense anywhere in the infield, but he is not qualified to be an MLB starter. Fortunately, a late-April return for the Korean sensation seems reasonable, so fans should not worry about watching the Ringo Starr look-alike struggle to hit .220 for too long. When Kang is back, he will likely move to 3rd base, while Josh Harrison moves from the hot corner over to 2nd base.

The biggest  problem that the Pirates could have to face long-term will be their first base situation. With Pedro Alvarez gone, the Bucs have three first baseman set to battle it out for the starting job: Mike Morse, John Jaso, and Jason Rogers. Both Jaso and Rogers were acquired this past December, with Rogers being picked up in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers and Jaso being signed from the Tampa Bay Rays to a 2-year deal worth $8 million. It appears that, at least at the start of the season, Morse and Jaso will work together as a platoon, with Jaso getting looks against right-handed pitchers and Morse being the man against lefties. The fact that Jaso has been predominately a DH throughout his career does not bode well for his defense. If Jaso can’t field, and his offense is limited to left-handed pitchers, it might not take long for Morse to be your everyday first baseman.

Fans have reason to be skeptical of the state of the first base position. Jaso had a solid year in 2015, highlighted by an impressive .380 on-base percentage, but he is a platoon player and nothing else. Jaso has appeared in over 100 games just twice in his major league career, so I see him a solid acquisition for a cheap price, but not a guy who will make a tremendous impact. The case of Morse is more intriguing.

Morse is by no means the long-term answer to the Pirates first base problems. He will be 34 by the time opening day rolls around, so he doesn’t have a whole lot of time left to be an above average major league player. Morse has been in the league since 2005 and has been a mixed bag throughout his career. His best years were with the Washington Nationals, who he played with from 2009-2012. His best season was it 2011 when he hit .303 with 31 homers, 95 RBI and an OPS of .910. Since then, Morse has bounced around with five different teams, with Pittsburgh being his most recent landing spot.

2015 was a rough year for Big Mike. He started the season fresh off of a solid 2014 campaign with the world champion Giants that earned him a two-year, $16 million contract with the Miami Marlins. Morse struggled greatly while in South Beach, hitting .213 with just four homers, 12 RBI and a putrid OBP of .276. Morse was traded to the Dodgers on July 30th before amazingly being traded again just one day later. This time, he was shipped off to Pittsburgh.

In the Steel City, ”The Beast” experienced somewhat of a renaissance. Over the season’s final two months, Morse hit .275 with one home run and 7 RBI along with a respectable OBP of .390. Not exactly numbers that will make Bucco fans forget about Willie Stargell, but certainly a far cry from his putrid play from April-July.

2016 will give Morse a larger sample size to bounce back, and there is historical evidence  in his favor. In 2013, Morse was traded from Washington to the Seattle Mariners, and he was expected to be the anchor of the M’s offense. It didn’t happen. Morse fell on his face, hit just .226, and was traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he also stunk up the joint. That winter, Morse signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. The small investment paid off, as he regained some of his 2011 form, hitting .279 with 16 homers, 61 RBI and a respectable OPS of .811. In 2014, Morse also hit .300 in the postseason and helped the Giants to a World Championship.

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If Morse could bounce back from a dreadful 2013 in 2014, why can’t he do the same this year? Morse is unlikely ever to duplicate his monster 2011 campaign, but I think the last two months of 2015 gave us evidence that Morse still has some left in the tank. If Morse can produce numbers similar to those of two seasons ago, he will be a great benefit to the Pirates. If nothing else, Morse will provide a reliable glove at 1st base, which gives him another advantage over Jaso, who has five innings of big league experience at the keystone sack. So if Morse performs well early on and Jaso struggles either in the field or at the plate, Morse could have the full-time job by early May.

The good news for the Pirates is that their worst case scenario over at first is not terrible. If neither Morse of Jaso can contribute enough, the Pirates have Josh Bell waiting in the wings. Bell is the #1 first base prospect in all of baseball and looks to be big league ready by early June.

The upside with Morse, in my opinion, outweighs the downside as far as what he can bring to the Pirates. Not many fans seem to be confident that he can be productive. I think said fans might be in for a surprise.