1. 新聞來源：
mlbtraderumors
2. 新聞標題：
Cubs To Sign Brandon Morrow
3. 新聞內容：
By Connor Byrne | December 10, 2017 at 2:38pm CDT
3:54pm: It’s a two-year accord with an option for 2020, Jeff Passan of Yahoo
Sports tweets. The deal is pending a physical.
2:38pm: The Cubs will sign Morrow to a contract worth $10MM to $11MM per
year, according to Heyman. The length of the deal is not yet known (Twitter
link).
2:03pm: The Cubs are “moving quickly” to sign free agent reliever Brandon
Morrow, Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports (Twitter link). The two sides
are “closing in” on an agreement, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. The Cubs’
interest in Morrow dates back to at least November, when Patrick Mooney of
NBC Sports Chicago reported they had identified him as a target. Morrow is a
Wasserman client.
The Cubs’ need for Morrow is greater than it was a few weeks ago,
considering they’ve since cut ties with Hector Rondon and haven’t re-signed
any of Wade Davis, Brian Duensing or Koji Uehara. Those four were among the
relievers Chicago relied on the most last season, leaving the club in clear
need of bullpen help to complement holdovers Carl Edwards Jr., Pedro Strop,
Mike Montgomery and Justin Wilson. Consequently, in addition to Morrow, the
Cubs are likely to sign one other late-inning reliever, per Ken Rosenthal of
The Athletic (Twitter link).
The 33-year-old Morrow will provide a significant boost to the Cubs’ relief
corps if last season is any indication. In his first full campaign as a
reliever, the former Mariners, Blue Jays and Padres starter put past shoulder
issues behind him to toss 43 2/3 innings with the National League-winning
Dodgers and pitch to a 2.06 ERA, also notching 10.31 K/9 against 1.85 BB/9
and a 45 percent groundball rate. Moreover, the right-hander finished third
among relievers with 40-plus innings in infield fly rate (20.6 percent) and
18th in swinging-strike percentage (16.0).
Statistically, the hard-throwing Morrow wasn’t quite as successful during
the Dodgers’ run to the World Series as he was in the regular season,
yielding six earned runs in 13 2/3 innings, but four of those came in one
disastrous appearance in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. He was highly effective
otherwise – including when he held the Cubs scoreless over 4 2/3, one-hit,
seven-strikeout innings in the National League Championship Series – and
became the second hurler in major league history to pitch all seven games of
the World Series.
Morrow’s workload in last season’s playoffs, in which the Dodgers deployed
him in an eye-popping 14 of 15 games, and injury history stand out as obvious
concerns, but his 2017 dominance nonetheless has him in position to secure a
lucrative contract. That’s quite a change from a year ago when Morrow had to
settle for a minor league pact in late January.
4. 新聞連結：
https://tinyurl.com/y8asqtp9
5. 備註：
(1) 小熊以每年$10~11M的2年約附帶2020年選擇權簽下現年33歲的Brandon Morrow，合約
待體檢完成即生效。
(2) 小熊不續約Hector Rondon，也還沒簽回Wade Davis、Brian Duensing或上原浩治，簽
下Morrow預計將後段局數的任務交給他。
(3) 小熊隊明年預計的牛棚陣容：
A. CL/SU：Brandon Morrow(?)。
B. RP：Carl Edwards Jr.、Pedro Strop、Mike Montgomery(L)、Justin Wilson(L)、
Justin Grimm。
(4) 曾擔任過水手、藍鳥、教士的先發輪值之一，但都因為肩膀的傷勢困擾著他。今年道
奇以小聯盟約簽下，他擔任後援投手表現精采，繳出2.06 ERA、10.31 K/9、1.85 BB/9和
45%的滾地球比率；此外，在所有超過40局投球的後援投手中，製造內野飛球比率(20.6%)
排名第三、揮空率(16.0)排名第18。
(5) 今年季後賽13.2局丟了6分，其中4分來自最慘的世界大賽第五戰，他也是史上第二位
世界大賽七戰全上的投手，但在此之前的國聯冠軍賽對上小熊4.2局僅挨1安投出7K。
(6) Brandon Morrow今年球季在道奇隊的成績表現：
ERA HLD SV SVO IP SO HR BB FIP WHIP
2.06 10 2 3 43.2 50 0 9 1.55 0.916