Report: Orioles claim Mariners’ Michael Morse
Aug 29, 2013, 9:45 AM | Updated: 9:59 am
By Shannon Drayer
Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweeted Thursday that the Orioles have claimed Mariners outfielder Michael Morse.
As I explained Tuesday, clubs typically place all of their players on waivers between the trade deadline and Sept. 1 to see what interest they generate. They can pull the players back or let the trade window expire without a deal. That most likely is what happened with Kendrys Morales. It most likely will not happen with Morse. I would expect the two sides to get a deal done.
The Orioles, along with a couple of other teams, showed interest in Morse at the deadline but Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik wasn’t terribly interested in trading him. There was some thought that if Morse put up a good numbers in the final two months of the season then he would be a player the team was interested in trying to bring back or a player they would put the qualifying offer on to receive a draft pick if he went elsewhere.
I was skeptical of the chances of a draft pick for Morse originally, but if Morse put up power numbers closer to his career average in those final two months there was probably a chance a team would give him three years in the offseason and he most likely would take that over the qualifying offer.
Morse unfortunately hit .158 with an OPS of .489 since returning on July 30, so that scenario goes out the window. The team has no shortage of outfielders and needs a 25-man roster spot for Taijuan Walker, who makes his debut Friday. This deal should get done. I wouldn’t expect much in return but the Mariners should get some of his salary back if nothing else.
