Reactions to the Atlanta Braves Charlie Morton signing

As many of you have already heard, the Atlanta Braves signed Charlie Morton a 1 year/$15 M deal on Tuesday morning.

They say you can’t go home again, but in the case of baseball for Charlie Morton, that is simply not true as he now comes back to the Atlanta Braves, the team that drafted him originally in the third round of the 2002 draft.

He was shipped off to the Pittsburgh Pirates in June of 2009 for Nate McLouth.

The right hander produced decent numbers but totally revived his career when he went to Houston and Tampa Bay where he became one of the best pitchers in not only the American League, but all of the game.

Now that Morton has come back to the Atlanta Braves though, it potentially gives the Braves one of the best 5 rotations in all the game.

Of course, a lot rides on the health of Mike Soroka, but all indications are the young right handed stud will be ready as soon as opening day and if not, before the end of April.  Combine that with the fact that Ian Anderson, and Max Fried have given every indication of being ready and growing more, the Braves look ready to compete with a great 1-4 rotation and provided being healthy, look to match up better with the Dodgers should we get back to that point.

It will be interesting to see if the Braves allow Morton to fly back to his mid Florida home and miss some games this year as being close to his family was an important part of not only this free agency decision, but his prior one as well.

A couple huge things that Morton will provide the Braves with is leadership and mentoring these young pitchers the Braves have. He obviously also has tons of postseason experience over the last few seasons, and not only that he has excelled in October when given the ball, and some people might have forgotten that it was only 2 short seasons ago when he finished third in the AL Cy Young race.

A quick glance of the previously mentioned rotation, and combine that with the recent Drew Smyly signing, it is fair to wonder if the Braves are already done adding to the rotation. Espeically when you still have Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson, Sean Newcomb, and Mike Foltynewicz in the system in some sort of limbo.

This signing make some sort of signal that the Braves might be looking to move on and start focusing on the offense a little more now that it seems the offseason is about to pick up more action.

Either way, it seems the Atlanta Braves have made moves and seem to have one of the better rotations in the game now.