Atlanta Braves: Acquiring an ACE at the trade deadline
By Seth Carter
Charlie Morton made his first All-Star game in 2018 at the age of 34 with Houston. Morton transformed himself from an effective groundball pitcher with a 92-mph fastball in 2015 to a strikeout stud touching Ricky Vaughn-territory on the radar gun. The Astros were able to use their front office full of nerds to locate a couple of tweaks to turn the good pitcher into a king of missing swings.
When Charlie Morton hit the free-agent market, the Tampa Bay Rays (a Dollar Store version of the Astros) took notice like when my dogs see me grab their leashes. They jumped on Morton with the biggest free-agent contract in Rays’ history. Which leads us here.
Now 36, Morton is entering the second of his two-year, $30 million contract. The contract also provides a team option with salary reductions if he spends time on the injured list (see below).
Charlie Morton: $15M 2019, $15M 2020, Club option 2021 $15M. Option reduced to: $10M if on DL 31-90 days at end of 2020 $5M if on DL 91-150 days at end of 2020 $3M if on DL 151-200 days at end of 2020
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 23, 2018
$1M if on DL > 201 days at end of 2020. $1M if traded in 2019 $500K after #rays
Morton has said he believes this will be his final contract. Not bad for a guy that finished third in the Cy Young voting last season.
. @RaysBaseball starter Charlie Morton, now pitching close to his Florida home, told me during the @MLBNetworkRadio spring tour that this contract (through 2020, vesting option for ’21) will be the last of his @MLB career: “I’m fully expecting that. Yes. One hundred percent.”
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 12, 2019
The Rays aren’t looking to move their star pitcher this offseason, although you know they probably want to. The Rays are coming off of a 96-win season and trading Morton – after recently trading Tommy Pham – could cause all 2,300 of their fans to riot.
Here’s the deal: the Rays did not have a good offense last season and they just lost (arguably) their best offensive weapon. There’s a chance they are not able to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox this season.
The Yankees finished seven games ahead of the Rays, are getting a healthy Severino to start the season, and could be on the brink of adding Gerrit Cole.
In addition to the incredible assortment of starting pitchers, the Yankees led the Majors in runs scored. Boston was right behind them in fourth place.
The Rays finished 18th and have lost Travis d’Arnaud, Jesus Aguilar, Tommy Pham, and Avisail Garcia. The replacements so far are guys like Hunter Renfroe and Mike Zunino, who hit around the .200-mark.
The lack of offense could be too much for their pitching to overcome in 2020. There’s a good chance Morton could be on the market by the deadline.
$15 million, pro-rated, team-friendly option for 2021, and lacking a no-trade clause. If you haven’t heard, the Rays like collecting “slapdick prospects” as Blake Snell put it.
The Braves are stocked full of prospects and Morton would be a difference-maker for the rotation. Don’t forget his Morton’s postseason heroics with the Astros.
Blake Snell lol pic.twitter.com/sjwTZNU5f6
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) December 6, 2019
Morton’s first season in the Bigs was with the Braves. He rocked a 6.15 ERA and struck out 5.8/per nine innings. Flash forward to his age-35 season with the Rays, he had a cool 3.05 ERA and struck out 250 batters in 194.2 innings. It shows what a transformation he has made over the course of his career.
Whichever prospects must go shouldn’t be an issue if the Braves truly want to be the best team in baseball. Charlie Morton is currently one of the best pitchers in baseball and if this scenario comes about I hope AA jumps on it.