Why Was Logan Morrison Demoted?

If you haven’t yet heard the news yet of Logan Morrison‘s demotion to Triple-A, you either do not use Twitter or haven’t heard of the Marlins. If the latter, I don’t blame you. But in any case, we have quite a situation on our hands here. Following tonight’s game against the San Francisco Giants, the Marlins have decided to send Lomo packing, en route to New Orleans. More likely than not, the move was made in order to net the left-handed hitter additional plate appearances. However, I have some different feelings about the move. Feelings that by no means make the demotion justifiable, but would in fact make the decision for the more a bit less crazy than it currently seems.

If you know Logan Morrison you’re probably aware of the Twitter handle @LoMoMarlins, his nasty remarks towards other members of Major League Baseball as well as his refusal to tranquilise his offensive and unprofessional acts. Logan Morrison is one fine ballplayer and man, there are only a handful of left-fielders I’d rather have roaming my bluegrass if I’m an owner. But the aforementioned unprofessional humor that he carries around, and displays on a daily basis is rather wrong. In fact, to most it’s quite embarrassing. And despite a lackadaisical and laughable play in the outfield tonight and some lousy on the field showings recently, his ongoing bad behavior makes little sense for a demotion. But I wouldn’t completely rule it out either.

Of course, the real reason why he was sent down most likely has to do with an undisclosed issue. An issue in which we, the public, have no way of guessing but at the same time probably don’t have any reason knowing either. After all, Logan Morrison didn’t even know the reason why. But first let’s just breakdown the move from the Marlins perspective. He’s hitting .273 in the month of August with a home run and four RBI’s under his belt. From the average baseball fan’s point of view, which include Jack McKeon and Jeffrey Loria, Morrison isn’t doing much wrong at the plate. His defense has been spotty and tonight was a perfect example of why but you don’t send somebody down for that. Everyone makes mistakes.

Now if we look a little deeper, which we will, the off-the-field issues come in to play. Just a few days ago our good friend Hanley Ramirez hit the shelf with yet another lingering injury. Hanley’s been a disappointment this season but still obviously ranks as one of the game’s better shortstops and even one of the better players. In talking post-ballgame with Juan Rodriguez a few days ago, Lomo called Ramirez out, saying he has a tough time seeing Hanley as an anchor when he’s only playing 100 games a season, not 162. We know that Morrison made nasty comments regarding Buster Posey and Brian Sabean following the events that took place the last time these two teams matched up and additionally, Morrison tweeted immature phrases directed indirectly at Jeffrey Loria who rightfully so, made a statement a few months back explaining his dissatisfaction in Logan Morrison‘s Twitter game. We know of Morrison’s vulgarity on Twitter, we’ve seen Tweets and columns from reporters conveying their discomfort with Morrison’s remarks and we’ve even seen Lomo tweet his unhappiness with a reporter’s article. All of which were dealt with, but did indeed create additional and unnecessary drama, which the Marlins surprisingly haven’t seemed too bothered by.

Traditionally, off-the-field issues as such don’t warrant a demotion. More like a suspension or something of that sort. And that’s why I don’t believe his ongoing comments were the result of the option. But as I said before there’s almost no other reason as to why this occurred. The Fish have plenty expressed their desire to keep the current team together as they move the team in to the new ballpark. Optioning Morrison clearly doesn’t mean the Marlins have intentions of shipping him elsewhere but how come the Marlins didn’t buy anybody else a plane ticket to New Orleans when they were struggling? Lots of questions to be pondered here without any answer, or at least a logical answer, but he was still optioned and for a reason. To me, if he was sent down due to his comments made towards Juan Rodriguez, which eventually led to Logan telling Rodriguez on Twitter to “re-think coming to his locker next time,” then that’s something. But if the tweeting and odd comments made by Morrison over the past several months led to a demotion now, it’s the Marlins fault for not reprimanding him sooner. Technically the brass could have made some sort of move or statement light years back giving Morrison an ultimatum, telling him to shut it “or else.” And teams have done so before when involved in different situations. And if they did, say, fine him (just as an example) this likely wouldn’t have continued. If it did, it would potentially result in a more serious punishment for Morrison.

Our very own SCWS tackled the Lomo situation beautifully a few days ago saying that the comments made by Morrison are wholly unattractive and unjustifiable. He’s right, but it’s a two way street and Morrison is part of an organization that he cares for. If the team was really dissatisfied by his remarks then they should have and could have put a halt to it. But hey, if this is really the case why am I not surprised the Marlins waited until this long to make such a move? Loria has an uncountable amount of idiosyncracy’s and this season especially we’ve consistently been accustomed and exposed to them. It’s just not surprising that he would for one, not crack down on Morrison sooner and two, do all of the other things that Jeffrey Loria normally and strangely does, but that’s a whole other story.

I’ll say it again, I see no reason to demote someone due to remarks, tweets, vulgarity and whatever else you can imagine a baseball player wrongfully doing with his mouth or keyboard. We don’t know why he was optioned, and it’s wrong to assume based on unclear circumstances that have taken place in the past. What we do know is that Morrison might have an idea of why he was sent down and from what I can guess shouldn’t have to do with his continuing immature statements. I could be wrong and if so, what an idiotic move by the Marlins. The last thing fans of the Fish want to see is a fallout within the relationship of Morrison and the Marlins brass. Drama is what we don’t need in South Florida and especially with only good events shaping up to take place in the Marlins future. With Colby Rasmus along with many others, we’ve seen what could result of venomous relationships in these very same circumstances. We can all agree that they don’t end up pretty. All we can hope for is that the reasons surrounding the Marlins decision to option Morrison aren’t too controversial and unexpected. But anyway, hope to see you soon, @LoMoZephyrs.