Charlie Morton made 30 starts for Atlanta in 2024, the sixth straight time he’s done that in a 162-game season.
He averaged a strikeout per inning and has done that annually since 2016.
The right-hander has started three World Series games in his career and even pitched the final four innings of a Game 7 to earn the victory. He’s made 17 postseason starts in all.
He was also born a month after the Orioles last won the World Series — 41 years ago. His 2024 ERA (4.19) was north of 4.00 for the second time in the last three seasons, and his fielding independent pitching (FIP) mark of 4.46 — which measures a pitcher’s effectiveness based on statistics that don’t involve his defense and is considered predictive in nature — was the highest it’s been since 2010, the worst season of his long career.
To suggest Morton — who’s also highly regarded as a veteran leader and clubhouse presence — can’t bring any value on a one-year, $15 million contract would be unfair. After a 2024 in which the Orioles lost four starting pitchers to season-ending injuries, scoffing at the addition of a veteran who’s logged at least 160 innings in six straight 162-game seasons is shortsighted.
Maybe he’ll defy Father Time one more season.
But much like the addition of 35-year-old Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year, $13 million deal in mid-December, this signing is much closer to Jordan Lyles or Kyle Gibson than any semblance of a suitable replacement for All-Star ace Corbin Burnes. Starting rotation depth is very important, of course, but that’s assuming there’s enough quality at the top.
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Other than Grayson Rodriguez — who’s now missed substantial time in two of his last three professional seasons because of lat injuries — and Zach Eflin entering his age-31 season, where is the championship-caliber upside coming from in this rotation? Kyle Bradish returning at some point in the latter half of 2025 isn’t out of the question, but that’s hardly any kind of a guarantee on which to justify an offseason plan.
This can’t be a wrap on rotation additions by general manager Mike Elias, right?
For those who were doubting Baltimore would even add two starters this winter, a third — a high-quality one at that — still being on the way is difficult to envision. And as most noted when Burnes agreed to his six-year, $210 million contract with Arizona last weekend, the diminished state of the free-agent market only increases the likelihood of that top-of-the-rotation piece needing to come via trade. Perhaps a deal would require Elias to part with more of a back-half starter like Dean Kremer, which could help justify the Orioles spending $28 million for Morton and Sugano to help fill out their rotation.
Still, these signings pose more questions than answers with the start of spring training six weeks away.
While we’ve seen Elias rely on one-year deals for higher-floor starters like Lyles and Gibson in past offseasons, we’re talking about a 35-year-old (Sugano) who’s never pitched in the majors and a 41-year-old (Morton) who made his major league debut just a couple weeks before All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson turned 7 years old. One can fairly question how high the floor even is for either pitcher at this point in their careers, let alone what the ceiling would be.
In the wake of Burnes going west, these aren’t encouraging developments for a young club really needing to take the next step after a disappointing finish to 2024.
With new ownership in place, Elias and the Orioles have committed a combined $86 million to outfielder Tyler O’Neill, Morton, Sugano, and backup catcher Gary Sanchez. That might have made John Angelos blush a few winters ago, but the same question persists as only O’Neill’s three-year, $49.5 million contract extends beyond 2025 and even that includes a first-year opt-out.
After building a playoff-caliber club, are Elias and the new ownership willing to do what’s necessary to get over the hump, make this club truly great, and then keep it that way?
Time remains in the offseason, but what we’ve seen to this point has been uninspiring.
