Links: Michael Morse happy to have landed with Pirates

Some Sunday links:

-P- Neal Huntington killed it at the trade deadline, Chris Mueller argues.

-P- Jung-Ho Kang's success could lead to more money for his former Nexen Heroes teammate Byung-Ho Park, says Ken Rosenthal (video).

-P- Michael Morse was involved with a strange series of transactions before arriving in Pittsburgh. The Marlins dealt him to the Dodgers in the Mat Latos / Hector Olivera trade to cut costs. The Dodgers then immediately designated him for assignment before trading him to the Pirates. After the DFA, the Dodgers promised Morse they'd find a good home for him, Alex Pavlovic of CSNBayArea.com writes.

"The Dodgers did me a great favor. They told me they had to designate me, but they said they would find a good place for me. I’m happy to get an opportunity with a team headed in the right direction."

I wasn't a huge fan of the Morse trade at the time -- his bat comes and goes, and he's a bad defensive player. He's been great so far with the Pirates, though. He's got a .440 OBP, and the Bucs have limited the impact of his defensive shortcomings by keeping him out of the outfield.

-P- MLB is right to consider modifying its playoff system, writes Rob Biertempfel. I've tried to avoid commenting on this issue right now because it would look like I'm just responding to the Pirates' current situation, but the one-game playoff is just the worst. The Pirates are one of the best teams in baseball this year, and they're probably going to have to take a one-game playoff against another very good team. If they win it, they'll have a road series against the best team. There's something wrong there.