The Astros announced that they’ve signed right-hander Charlie Morton to a two-year contract. The 33-year-old Jet Sports client will receive a $14MM guarantee with up to $5MM worth of incentives, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter links). He’ll earn a $625K bonus for reaching 15, 20, 25 and 30 starts in each year of the contract. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo adds (via Twitter) that the guaranteed portion of the deal is evenly distributed, meaning Morton will earn $7MM in 2017 and in 2018.
[Related: Updated Houston Astros Depth Chart; Updated Houston Astros Payroll]
Morton has spent the bulk of his career with the Pirates but spent the 2016 season in the Phillies organization after being acquired in a trade last winter. However, Morton suffered a torn hamstring after just four starts in Philadelphia and ultimately required season-ending surgery to repair the injury, leaving him with a total of just 17 1/3 innings pitched in 2016. His contract with the Phils contained a $9.5MM mutual option, but that was bought out by the team, allowing Morton to hit the open market in search of a new deal.
When at his best, Morton is a ground-ball specialist that demonstrates solid control. He has a career 4.54 ERA in 893 Major League innings, though that mark reflects some considerable struggles he had early in his career. From 2011-15, Morton pitched to a more respectable 3.96 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 and a robust 58.2 percent ground-ball rate. And when healthy in 2016, he looked to have made some intriguing gains in terms of fastball velocity, as his two-seamer jumped from an average of 91.8 mph to 93.3 mph, per PITCHf/x data. MLB.com’s Mike Petriello also notes (on Twitter) that the spin rate on Morton’s curveball ranked in the top five in all of baseball among pitchers that threw at least 50 hooks. Houston is known to be drawn to players with lofty spin rates — a trait that led them to take a chance on Collin McHugh prior to his 2014 breakout.
Morton’s penchant for grounders and strong results against right-handed opponents should play well in Houston, where right-handed bats can feast on the short porch down the left field line. In that aforementioned stretch from 2011-15, Morton held right-handed opponents to a feeble .234/.296/.336 line, though left-handed bats did knock him around at a .298/.397/.433 clip. Even against lefties, though, he’s exceptionally stingy in terms of giving up the long ball.
Durability has been an issue for Morton, who in addition to last year’s hamstring operation has had Tommy John surgery (2012) and surgery to repair a hip injury (2014). Morton has never made more than 29 starts in a season and has topped 150 innings just twice in the Majors, with 2011’s 171 2/3 frames representing a career-high. That said, with a mere $7MM annual commitment, Morton needn’t be a workhorse to justify his salary.
Morton should slot into the back of the rotation in Houston, filling the void left by the departure of fellow free agent Doug Fister. He’ll be joined there by Dallas Keuchel, who will look to rebound from a highly disappointing followup to his 2015 Cy Young campaign. Houston also has right-handers McHugh, Lance McCullers, Joe Musgrove and Mike Fiers as rotation options, giving them the depth to either move a starter in a trade or give Musgrove some additional work in Triple-A (although he certainly pitched well enough in 2016 to justify a further look at the big league level). Alternatively, the club could simply deploy Fiers, who struggled a bit in 2016, as more of a spot starter and swingman to add some length in the bullpen and serve as valuable depth to a rotation that saw both Keuchel and McCullers miss significant time due to injury this past season.
Adding Morton to a rotation that already includes Keuchel gives the Astros two of the game’s most prolific ground-ball pitchers as well as a third potential ground-ball savant in the form of McCullers (57.3 percent in 2016). McHugh, Musgrove and Fiers all profile more as fly-ball arms, though Fiers did experience a significant uptick in his ground-ball rate in his first full season with Houston last year, jumping from 37.6 percent in 2015 to a career-high 42.2 percent in 2016.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Doug Fister 2.0? Feels like another washed veteran who won’t actually help out this season.
Yeah, sure feels like that. Though we were one pitcher short down the stretch after trading Feldman, so maybe this is a bottom of rotation Feldman/Fister low risk move.
Doesn’t preclude a trade for a quality SP, which is still needed.
Low risk, low reward. doubt he’s getting paid even as much as Fister did.
brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?month=4&day=…
Hurt a lot. Not sure about washed up.
When he was healthy, he was pretty good with Pittsburgh. Only problem, he was not healthy that often. I hope he can stay healthy for 2 years and show that he is really a pretty decent starting pitching. That being said, he probably will hurt something in spring training and be shut down again.
Agreed, let one mediocre pitcher go, sign another! That sums up our pitching staff!
Bad signing!
ALCS-winning sign.
WS-winning sign.
have you any credibility left sir?
Low risk move. Starter depth, or 6th/7th inning guy. $7MM for a vet is almost free.
Not a real bad move by the ‘Stros here. Morton hasn’t quite shown that he has a lot of potential in him, even at 33, but Brent Strom is quite a good pitching coach. A very low risk, high reward move with this one.
Well, it’s certainly low risk.
Yea, I don’t even know why I said high reward honestly. I mean, looking at his stats, his best season was very sub-par.
perhaps you foresaw the good mr. morton’s clutch performances in ALCS and WS to help the 2017 houston astros take home the championship? don’t second guess yourself? 😉
Don’t mind the move. I just hope he isn’t one of one or two singings/trades Luhnow mentioned he would like to get done before winter meetings. Or the big blockbuster acquisition that has been mentions. That would be really sad. But otherwise not a bad insurance policy. They lost Kuechel and Mcullers the last couple months of the season and really needed extra help.
interesting that the Astros now have the top 2 groundball pitchers in all of baseball. Strom seems to work well with these type of pitchers.
top 2 in career ground-ball to fly-ball ratio among active pitchers with at least 800 innings. Keuchel carries a 2.84 career mark while Morton owns a 2.48 mark.
Seems like a low risk high reward signing. Hope it works well for Morton and the ‘Stros.
Low risk…but low reward. Even when he was good…he was mediocre.
As a Pirates fan I can tell you 3 things from his time here…
1. Injuries are an issue
2. Consistency is the BIGGEST issue
3. When healthy and rolling he looks dominant at times
Just my 2 cent scouting report from someone that grew frustrated at a guy with all the tools.
Completely agree with that. I certainly wish charlie has success but his biggest issue is avoiding big innings. Ive seen too many times where he looks great for all but one inning of his outing but that one inning causes him to be pulled by the 5th with his team down a few runs. If he can limit damage when he starts to get runners on base and obviously he has to be healthy enough to take the mound in the first place, he can be a very solid, stabilizing back of the rotation pitcher.
First guy to benefit from an awful class of free agent pitchers I guess.
Not too excited with the signing. Hopefully we didn’t overpay, but I have full confidence in the scouts and what they calculated.
calculations = on point. #champs
Someone has to pitch. We needed pitchers. Hopefully our lineup plus new bats will keep him in the game long enough to get some wins.
And let the terrible signings by Lunhow begin. What a joke.
29-12: I’ll take a Luhnow lineup like that any day. Trust the process and stop being an old-time scout.
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Totally agree with above comments. Charlie Morton has the ability to be one of the best pitchers in the game when he is on. A quote from Jonathan Lucroy after facing him, “He has the best sinker in the game”. It is just major inconstancy with him. In too many starts he looks unhittable for 4 innings then blows up in the 5th and gives up 7 runs.. Being a Pirates fan it was very frustrating knowing he has so much talent but couldn’t put it together for a string of 3-5 starts. If he somehow figures out those issues, the Astros will have a steal and a great pitcher behind Dallas Keuchel.
For the duration of this guy’s career, I have called him “Jelly Roll Morton” and I wish everyone else would too!
Houston, this is an open, (RIP to the jazzman) nickname that fits perfectly on a baseball player – start it up!
For a #5….he has quite a bit of upside, assuming he stays healthy. He has some ability, but he is going to be inconsistent, which is why he isn’t a #2-#3 making 2-3x the $/yr. I think it is a good signing as long as the ‘Stros have more planned for the off-season.
I thought the Pirates might get Morton and/or Volquez back to fill the two spots they have for veteran pitchers.
But, $14 million?
For Charlie Morton?
Chad Kuhl is fine.
The beauty of this signing is it was Charlie Morton, a backend guy with potential of a solid #3 starter, for 14 mil./2 yrs. and not ~50 mil./3yr. deal for Rich Hill, a current #2 or #3 starter with potential to become an ace for the Hooks.
Good low risk signing for the Astros. A few years ago the Pirates pitching coach worked wonders with Morton. From 2011-2014 Morton made 84 starts with a 3.74 ERA and a 3.76 FIP. That’s solid work although his WHIP was still a bit too high because of all the hit batsmen. If he’s able to make 20-25 starts and pitch with an ERA/FIP at 4 or below he was justify his contract. Morton’s only problem is staying healthy. But anyway, as a Braves fan I never thought he’d ever amount to anything but the Pirates pitching coach worked a miracle.
Boom!!! Nailed it! Charlie Morton was a major part of the Astros winning the World Series.
not to mention ALCS!! 🙂
Good low risk signing. If he’s able to put together a full season then great! If not, then maybe he can be a good placeholder for the first half of the year while Martes and Paulino refine their skills in AAA in anticipation of a call-up.
The Astros could have had Mike Pelfrey at 1/8MM for the proverbial player to be named, and the Tigers wouldn’t have cared if he was ever named. Its not the amount, but the fact it took a two year contract. With his injury history?!! Good thing it should allow Fiers to move to the bullpen to provide depth and spot start in case of an injury, because he will be needed to replace the guy they got to replace him! Its not a question of if Morton goes on the disabled list, but when and for how long.
Seems like a lot of money for an injury prone #4-5 starter…
Insanely stupid.
Oh, Ed. You’re such an angry old codger.
insanely clutch, i’d say.
I don’t get the comments about this being a low risk signing. Paying him $14m guaranteed over 2 years plus incentives, seems like a serious overpay to me when his health is in serious question, and even when healthy, he hasn’t brought in a positive WAR career at the age of 33! This instead seems like a guy who should get a minors deal with an invite, or at most $4m guaranteed for 1 year. All that’s left to say is WOW!
I’m surprised by the signing. Seems unnecessary.
Signals a big trade for an Ace.
My thoughts exactly! Now that Morton is slotting in with Keuchel McCullers, McHugh Musgrove, Fiers, Feliz, Devenski, Martes, and Paulino, as potential starters for next season. I would expect Luhnow to capitalize on a big trade, where possibly two names from that list as well as one or two young prospects are exchanged for Chris Archer. Regardless of whose involved, I’ve got faith in Luhnow and his analytical process. Come the end of February, I predict they’ll have made big enough splashes that they’ll have a team looking to finally take the AL West. And @luhnowsucks will have to finally change his username.
SPs seem to play at a level beyond their abilities under the tutelage of Ray Searage. If that holds true, this will prove to be the worst signing of this offseason. The SP pickings are slim right now, but there are at least 10 starters on the market who are clearly better and would have taken that contract.
Ha
So bad
sbnation.com/mlb/2017/11/2/16597806/world-series-a…
worked out awfully didn’t it??
Astros Go after Cashner. He has just had some problems the past two years and that’s all well now.
I don’t know whom these Pirate fans are talking about, but I can assure you it it’s not the Charlie Morton I watched for years. It got to the point that I refused to go to games when he was scheduled to pitch. A solid number 7 starter, Morton has no heart nor intestinal fortitude. Dumping him and his full salary on the unsuspecting Phillies last year ranks among Neal Huntington’s best trades. My sympathy to the poor fans in Houston.
thanks but not needed…the man came through when it counted most (twice, but who’s counting)! #champs