Ageless right-hander Charlie Morton is not completed but. Weeks after suggesting he hopes to pitch once more in 2025, the 41-year-old Morton has agreed to phrases with the Baltimore Orioles on a one-year free-agent contract. The membership made the announcement on Friday. In response to MLB.com, the deal will likely be value $15 million.
This previous season for the Atlanta Braves, Morton registered a 4.19 ERA (99 ERA+) and a 4.46 FIP in 30 begins. Throughout his 165 ⅓ innings, Morton struck out 167 batters and walked 64 unintentionally. This marked the sixth straight full season — i.e., excluding the closely abbreviated 2020 marketing campaign — during which Morton has logged a qualifying variety of innings and made a minimum of 30 begins.
Earlier within the offseason, CBS Sports activities ranked Morton because the No. 29 accessible free agent within the present class. This is a part of our write-up:
He is made 30-plus appearances 4 years operating, all of the whereas posting a mean or higher ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio for a beginning pitcher. Regardless of Morton’s superior age and mileage, he continues to adapt and regulate. His curveball stays the king of its area, however he is made some extent of lowering his four-seamer utilization; moreover, he is all however mothballed his once-signature sinker, bumping it to his fourth-most used pitch behind a changeup. Morton has been as versatile as any non-elite pitcher in current reminiscence; that helps to elucidate why he is in place to pitch past his forty first birthday.
The 2025 season will likely be Morton’s 18th in MLB. Over his 17 seasons thus far, he is put up an ERA+ of 101 with a profession WAR of 17.3. He goes into 2025 with 138 profession wins in 382 begins. Morton has two All-Star choices to his credit score, and in 2019 he completed third within the American League Cy Younger voting as a member of the Rays.
In Baltimore, Morton joins a rotation that additionally contains current addition Tomoyuki Sugano out of Japan. As nicely, the Orioles in 2025 will get their first full season from 2024 deadline acquisition Zach Eflin. Nonetheless, they will be doing with out ace Corbin Burnes, who not too long ago signed a $210 million pact with the Diamondbacks. The Orioles are coming off a 2024 season during which they went 91-71 and made a second straight journey to the postseason.
