After spending ten days with triple-A New Orleans, outfielder Logan Morrison returned to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, batting third and homering in the first game of an impromptu doubleheader. The homer was Morrison's 18th of the season, as he's been among the team's best bats.
Logan Morrison Returns To Marlins, Doesn’t Actually Receive Any Message At All
Logan Morrison is back with the Florida Marlins after a brief stint in the minors, but Morrison doesn’t have any idea why he was sent to the minors in the first place.
The fact that Morrison has been among the team’s best bats made his earlier demotion to triple-A curious, and the impression with which many were left was that Morrison was being punished less for his hitting, and more for his behavior. Morrison’s attitude has gotten him into trouble with the organization a few times before, and his demotion conveniently came right after Morrison skipped a season ticket holder event. It looked like the Marlins were trying to get him to act more like a professional.
That he was recalled after a ten-day assignment, then, suggested that the Marlins were satisfied. I even wrote as much just this morning. To the outsider, it appeared the Marlins were confident that their message had been sent and received.
But I guess I gave the Marlins too much credit. After returning, Morrison spoke with the media, and here’s a selection of what he had to say, from Tom D’Angelo:
When asked if he has talked to anybody in the organization since the demotion, Morrison said, “I haven’t talked to anybody. I didn’t really care.”
When asked why he believes he was sent down, Morrison said, “I have no idea.”
When asked how he will change, Morrison said, “I’ll be the same person.”
When asked what was accomplished by him being in New Orleans for 10 days, Morrison said, “I don’t know.”
When asked to describe his relationship with the organization, Morrison said, “I’m the baseball player and they provide the uniform.”
Recall that, when Morrison first received news of his demotion, he was told that he had a low batting average. The Marlins later clarified that Morrison needed to work on all aspects of being a player, but they didn’t issue that clarification to Morrison personally, and from the sounds of things, they haven’t been in close contact with him since. They sent him to the minors without giving a good reason why, and they recalled him from the minors without giving a good reason why.
The whole thing is just so unsatisfying, and seems so utterly pointless. It would be one thing if the Marlins were clear about what they were trying to do. Even were one to disagree with their actions, you could still understand that the organization deemed Morrison in need of discipline. But the Marlins weren’t clear. They weren’t clear to the media, and - far more importantly - they weren’t clear with Morrison.
Logan Morrison just came back from spending a week and a half in triple-A, and he has no idea what he was doing there. Whatever message the Marlins were trying to send clearly wasn’t received, because one could argue it was never even sent. Morrison just went away and returned without any explanation.
It’s ... well the first word that comes to mind is “silly”. There are better words, more appropriate and critical words, but it’s just the latest silly episode from an organization with a track record of silly behavior. Whatever they were trying to accomplish with Morrison, they didn’t accomplish, because they didn’t bother cluing Morrison in. That doesn’t make a single lick of sense.
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