Logan Morrison picked the wrong fight with Yankees

Rays first baseman Logan Morrison decided it was a good idea to blame Yankees slugger Gary Sanchez for not being invited to partake in the upcoming Home Run Derby.

The thing is that outside of Tampa Bay and perhaps his friends and family, no one wants to see “LoMo” on the big stage. All-Star festivities like the Derby are reserved for exciting generational talent like Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, not a journeyman having a career year.

That’s exactly what Morrison is having — a career-high 24 home runs, 57 RBI and a .579 slugging percentage, which ranks him in the top 10 in the American League in all three categories.

During his 8-year big league career, Morrison has a total 108 home runs, 92 of which have come against right-handed pitching. So if LoMo really wants to prove he deserves a shot to launch balls all over Marlins Park on July 10, let him face a southpaw. I doubt his 16 career jacks would make for very entertaining TV.

Yet, as he told theTampa Bay Times, it’s everyone else’s fault and not his own that MLB bypassed his “deserving” candidacy.

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"“Gary shouldn’t be there. Gary’s a great player, but he shouldn’t be in the Home Run Derby,” Morrison said. “I remember when I had 14 home runs. That was a month and a half ago.”“I’m not disappointed. It’s par for the course. I play for the Rays. I get it. They can’t even get my picture right. When they put my name up there they put Corey (Dickerson’s) picture up there … on MLB Network. When they put up the home run leaders they put Corey’s swing on there, not mine.”"

Talk about sour grapes. But if you read into Morrison’s comments, they can be taken as a direct slight at the team he plays for. That the Rays didn’t do enough to campaign for him. That because he plays in a small market, no one cares about poor LoMo.

“The whoa is me” approach is totally lost when the words leave the mouth of a professional athlete. You get paid to play a game. He should have just congratulated the field of participants and gone about his business. But no, he decided to stir the pot. Just wait until the next time the Rays head to the Bronx.

The reasons he didn’t get the invite and Sanchez did are simple:

• Sanchez plays for the YANKEES — which makes for better television ratings.
• Sanchez may only have 14 homers this season, but he missed more than a month due to a strained bicep. When you factor in the fact that he smashed 20 long balls in 53 games in 2016, it’s entirely possibly The Kraken could have topped Morrison’s 24 taters.
• Morrison hit a total of 14 home runs in 107 games last season.
• For the stat geeks, Morrison’s career WAR is 4.2. Sanchez’s is 4.9.
• And then there’s Buster Olney, who provided the proverbial mic drop:

You’d think that Morrison would be more concerned with beating out the four other men on the American League Final Ballot vote to make the actual All-Star game — but he’s not. He’d rather pick a fight with the Yankees.

To Sanchez’s credit, the second-year budding superstar took the high road, telling David Lennon:

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It’s clear to see Morrison has overestimated his self-worth.