The Orioles used veteran starter Charlie Morton out of the bullpen last night when Kyle Gibson’s first start of the year was shorter than hoped, and it seems that’ll be the continued plan for Morton — at least in the short term. Manager Brandon Hyde announced today that Morton will pitch in relief for the time being (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). The O’s haven’t closed the door on the 41-year-old returning to a starting role, but they’re hoping a change in role can help get him back on track.
It’s a disappointing outcome for both the team and for Morton personally. The 18-year big league veteran signed with the O’s on a one-year, $15MM contract over the winter. Morton was one of several one-year acquisitions for the Orioles’ rotation, joining Tomoyuki Sugano and Gibson in that regard. Baltimore’s baseball operations staff hoped that the infusion of aging veterans, paired with steps forward from young pitchers like Grayson Rodriguez and Cade Povich, would help them overcome the loss of ace Corbin Burnes, who signed with the D-backs in free agency.
Virtually nothing has gone right for the Orioles’ staff in 2025, however. Morton is hardly alone in terms of struggles, but his have been the most glaring. He’s appeared in seven games — five starts, one bulk appearance following an opener, and last night’s mop-up work — and been tattooed for a 9.45 ERA in 26 2/3 frames. His 15.2% walk rate is a career-worst, while his 18.8% strikeout rate is his lowest since 2015. Morton’s typically strong ground-ball rate has evaporated; he’s sitting on a career-low 36.7% mark and has averaged a career-worst 2.03 homers per nine innings pitched. He’s also displayed career-worst marks in average exit velocity (91.6 mph), opponents’ barrel rate (11.1%) and hard-hit rate (48.9%).
The rest of Baltimore’s rotation hasn’t been quite as bad, but it’s still been a mess overall. Dean Kremer has been torched for a 7.04 ERA while working with career-worst strikeout and swinging-strike rates. Povich was terrific his last time out but still has an ERA of 5.04. Sugano boasts a sharp 3.00 ERA, but it’s hard to see that continuing when he has the fourth-lowest strikeout rate among all qualified big league pitchers.
Injuries have hit Baltimore’s staff hard. Zach Eflin has been out since mid-April due to a lat strain. Rodriguez initially hit the IL with elbow inflammation but has since been diagnosed with a lat strain of his own; he was recently moved over to the 60-day injured list. Trevor Rogers, Albert Suarez, Chayce McDermott, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells have all yet to pitch this season. Rogers dislocated his kneecap in January. McDermott suffered a lat strain in February. Suarez’s shoulder flared up in March. He’s now on the 60-day IL, too. Bradish and Wells had UCL surgeries performed just days apart last June.
There’s little recourse for the Orioles at the moment. Rookie Brandon Young made his MLB debut earlier this month but has struggled in both of his outings (6.23 ERA, eight walks in 8 2/3 innings). Gibson made his season debut last night and was promptly shelled for nine runs in 3 2/3 frames. Triple-A starters Kyle Brnovich, Cameron Weston and Thaddeus Ward have posted results that range from underwhelming to ugly.
Right now, the hope will be that Povich can build on his last solid outing in tonight’s series finale versus the Yankees. Baltimore has announced that Kremer, Sugano and Gibson will start this weekend, in that order, against a Royals club that has struggled to score runs in 2025. Baltimore is off again next Monday. That gives them the short-term luxury of skipping the fifth spot this next time through the rotation, but the O’s only have one off-day from May 6-28, so that’s a short-term reprieve.
Father time remains undefeated.
Charlie landed a few good shots to his chin, though.
Yea Morton hasn’t been the same since his hamstring transplant. My understanding is the elephant cadaver was the a close match due to length. Sadly it seems it has affected Mortons leg kick.
what
I remember when Morton repeatedly stated that he wanted to retire young. I don’t fault him for pocketing an extra 50M or so.
If a team wants to pass on better younger safer players no reason to turn down 15m. If it was 3 or 5 he might have retired.
I bet O’s fans are thrilled they went out and spent $15 million on this bum instead of signing Flaherty.
Last time they tried Flaherty, it didn’t go so well.
Let’s not let facts get in the way of a good rant though.
in the world of just pure stats, Flaherty *should of* done well for BAL. in the real world, he was a disaster. even after that, I don’t know that i’d call anyone a bum. just didn’t work like Morton *should* have been better from his fairly ageless history. turns out, not so much so.
lianafinck.com/products/should-letterpress-print
MacGromit;
LOL
Teams are built from the middle out. The other day Rex Hudler mentioned on the Royals broadcast that it’s because the majority of the batted balls are hit to the middle of the field. And he noted – as I have here for years – the the most important player is the C; then the SS, CF and 2B.
Now…….
I got tired of watching the O’s when Gunner circled a ball at SS a few weeks ago, threw it sidearm, ball bounced before it got to 1B (players do that now) – but Mountastle couldn’t judge the spin until the ball hit the ground and it bounced out of his reach (he was stretched out on the bag with his foot on the base). Now, fundamental baseball is that you throw the ball overhand in that situation so that the spin is going forward and not sideways – it gives the 1B a true hop. I’ve seen Gunner do this constantly. Do they have coaches? If so, won’t he listen? Gunner is a 3B/DH.
Adley is a worse C than he was when he came up 3 years ago. He used to work with the pitchers and they were successful. Now it appears he’s not allowed to do that. Jackson is clearly uncomfortable at 2B and is at SS. Only Cedric plays his position properly…..and he’ll be gone soon.
–
Then we have the pitchers. OK. They don’t draft many because pitchers are volatile. That’s understandable. But they have players pitching throughout their minor leagues. The only young starters that have up are Povich and McDermott. Maybe they’ll succeed in time. But other teams bring up guys their age and those pitchers are much more advanced. Meanwhile the O’s have the same starters the past 3 years – minus Burnes and a few others – they haven’t developed a one new one that’s decent.
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The point of all this is that Elias and Zig are sensational at scouting and drafting……position players. But not so much at developing them and having them coached at the ML level. This is sort of like when the SF Giants brought in Farhan Zaidi from the Dodgers to run their Baseball Ops because he was great at stats and found ‘diamonds in the rough’ for the Dodgers. But he couldn’t run an entire baseball organization. Buster Posey came in to replace him this past offseason. Obviously Buster understands the game. The Giants are playing great baseball. I WATCH! Same manager. Buster dumped some deadwood and brought in a few guys. But he’s gotten things reversed and the Giants are playing even with the Padres and Dodgers.
Liked the O’s. But watch many small market teams that play smart, fundamental, winning baseball with players that have little fanfare about them: Rays, Brewers, Guardians, D-Backs, Tigers, and now the Reds (the FO works with Francona).
Fans here don’t seem to understand the the O’s are not in competition with themselves. They have to play – ON THE FIELD – against teams that are there trying to beat them.
@App_Outlaw
well said, I honestly blame myself for inviting Samuel/Dracula to bury me with all those words, so many words.
on the upside, the mute was so satisfying silencing that smug, self aggrandizing babbler.
Samuel muted me a couple of years ago when I laughed at him for claiming that Kevin Newman was worth more than Dansby Swanson in free agency. Samuel used to brag about having “muted more than 100 ” on the site. Daring to disagree w/Samuel and incurring his wrath is frightful business——really need sarcasm font on here.
On another thread Samuel just told me that “23 year old Gunnar Henderson is not 23 year old Carlos Correa”. The Correa that’s never hit 30 HR in a season like Gunnar did last year, has never walked as much as Gunnar did last year or run as much, or shown as much range at SS.
(I actually think Gunnar should try 3B, Holliday SS, Westburg 2B, too, but I’ve said that previously).
We wouldn’t know if Samuel was running the team. Mateo would be locked into a 7 year, 240 million dollar contract because he’s so valuable, he would be the starting SS. Cole Irvin would be the ace of the staff. The team would hustle and display sound fundamentals but the staff ERA would be 9 and the team batting average .170.
“The Oriole Way” is completely forgotten , Earl and Cal Sr are spinning in their graves.
Charlie has 2 World Series titles, 2 All Star nods and 155m dollars in career earnings. I probably wouldn’t call someone a bum, unless you have a resume that can top that.
I’m 70 yrs old, and I think I can pitch as good as Morton. Pay me.
stu18germanator;
What makes you think Flaherty wanted to play for the O’s.
Perhaps you missed it…..
The Tigers currently have the best record in the AL….and Flaherty is one reason why.
Flaherty didn’t want to play for Baltimore after the way he was treated before. It took the great coaches in Detroit to fix the issues and now everything is great for him and Detroit. Good teaching coaches can make all the difference.
Well said.;
Read what I wrote below.
error by rumours writers
gibson deal is $5.25 million
stu18germanator
How many games of MLB did you play? How many games of AAA did you play? How many games of rookie ball did you play? Yet here you are calling Charlie Morton a “bum”. 2 WS rings, and over 2000 k’s and an 18 year career. What a joke you are, along with the 8 up votes so far showing total disrespect.
Lucky they’re an AL team and all the other teams in the league are weak.
Don’t worry, 37 year old 5th starter Kyle Gibson will save them!
LMFAO!🤣
Maybe they can sign old man Hill
The headline should read “Orioles move Charlie Morton to his home in Bradenton FL’.
Braves offseason not winless. Yeesh.
Don’t worry Braves may pick him back up at some point in the season lol. Wouldn’t shock me
Does a 41-year-old still listen to coaches?
There’s not much positive to say about Drew French. I hope he’s fired.
“You’re fired “
…and then moves into my basement so we can stay up late, eat corn beef sandwiches, drink zero sugar cream soda & talk about what a managerial genius Earl Weaver was. Ahahahahaha!
What’s the over/under of Hyde making it to September? Not saying he’s to blame but 0 post season wins and a 2025 that’s gone south, fast, the GM never blames themselves.
I started this watch about a week ago. If things continue to go the way they are–and there’s no sign of anything improving–I can vision him being gone by the AS break.
(Braves fan here)Watched the game and man I’ve never seen him pitch that high in the strike zone his whole time with the Braves. Literally almost all his pitches were mid to upper zone. That’s his issue. Pitching so high with his movement the ball drops into the sweet spot of hitters it seems right now. Idk if it’s just Baltimores style of coaching but it’s not working for Morton.
He’s been in the bigs for 18 years. I doubt he’s throwing meatballs and getting shellacked just because Baltimore’s coaches prefer it
They don’t want to swallow the contract, just pathetic!🙄
The inevitable trade to the Braves for PTBNL coming soon.
For Kelenic. Straight up.
what, is Joc Pederson unavailable?
Literally one of the worst GM s in baseball. Got lucky with draft and then wasted a good window.
It is beginning to look that way.
They can always trade away and start a new rebuild.
You can say Elias is a horrible GM, but his draft record isn’t luck.
Yes, a little better than average. Passed on stuck in single A Druw Jones for Holiday. Passed on that guy Austin Martin for Kjerstad. That’s two picks he went against the consensus and his guy’s in the majors and the consensus is a bum. Screwed up going with the consensus Adley over Witt. I think he has a record in his first draft the 2019 draft for guys to make the majors or something. And he’s done ok as a trade deadline seller. Rubenstein can wait till August 1 for replacing Elias.
They should move him to the parking lot, and wave as he rides off into the sunset.
$15 million garbage time reliever. Ouch!
Hidden in plain sight is Kyle Gibson having to take one for the team. Gave up back-to-back-to-back HRs to the Yankees to start the game. (Grisham, Judge, Rice)
And the Yankees didn’t need Devin Williams even when they padded their lead in the 9th.
Maybe they should have seriously addressed the rotation just a bit.
they should move him to the mexican independent league
Nearly 30 million spent on Morton, Sanchez and Gibson. This has to rank as one of the worst off-seasons for a contending club in recent memory.
That’s a total of nearly -2.0 bWAR, a combined 37 earned runs allowed in 30.1 innings (41 ER in 31.1 IP if you want to count Gary’s 1 pitching appearance this year), and -7 OPS+. As a Pirates fan who wants to see their team build off their strong rotation (whereas you probably want the O’s to do more with their young hitting core), I feel your pain of lackluster offseason moves. Nothing is more frustrating when your team isn’t just cheap, but inefficent with spending.
We can cry about the ptching staff. Thats easy, but well deserved. But The everyday lineup is just as bad. All the talent and the coaches havent developed it. They could have resigned burnes and traded for cease like everyone wanted, but the O’s would still be floating belly up with them too.
Bats are cold, defense is horrible.
I always love to point out that Morton has been pulling this “I’d rather retire to spend time with my family” thing for like 7 years now- when he first started this “I’m gonna retire to spend time with my family” bit, he’d made about $41M in his career- he’s “almost retired” himself into an extra $107.4M in career earnings ($120M if the 2020 season hadn’t been pro-rated). I wonder if this year goes poorly enough, he actually will retire, because he’d have to settle for like 1 year/$8M as a bounce back candidate and that wouldn’t be worth it to him going into 2026.
2024 was an option year that Braves picked up. That option was on an extension for 2023 season that was signed during the 2022 season.
Those salaries were already determined regardless if he was pondering retirement in the offseason.
They were option years because the Braves didn’t want to negotiate every single season. A player can retire whenever they want to. Literally whenever they want to.
Adam LaRoche was in the midst of a solid career being a 20-30 HR hitter with what was likely 5-10 years left of productivity and large paychecks and he had this weird incident where he brought his kid to the stadium every day and the team asked him to stop doing that, essentially kicked his kid out of the club house and LaRoche promptly retired that day, walking away from what was left on the $12M he was owed that season and I believe there was another $13M guaranteed on an additional year and he was in the midst of a productive campaign.
Players can walk away literally whenever they want to.
An NFL player walked off the field in the middle of the game and said he’d had this instantaneous epiphany that he was done with football- in the middle of a mid-season game.
So, Charlie Morton can literally quit/retire whenever he wants to, regardless of any years or dollars on a deal and once he officially calls it quits, the salaries are no longer an obligation- so this was more of getting that pesky annual re-negotiation out of the way for him- but he’s still used that year-to-year thing to juice his salaries, in my humble opinion.
I’m aware Morton or any player can retire when they want. Your original comment reads as tho he used it as a negotiation point to bolster salary. Which him already being under contract obviously was not the case.
Perhaps trade a few prospects for a quality starting pitcher. Offering Mountcastle last of season is why you’re here.
Kyle Gibson lost half a WAR run in 1 start. The Orioles have to be the most disappointing team in baseball right now. They were banking on retaining Corbin Burnes.
Its still early in the season but the outlook for this season in particular is not good. It was optimistic at best of the front office to take flyers on vets one year deals, while expecting injured starters to return and produce at their best capabilities from the get go while also not expecting more injuries to occur. The Sugano one looked like a solid risk reward type of deal from the beginning but man did they ever overestimate some of the other guys.
I imagine Sugano gets dealt at the deadline if my O’s keep sinking like I expect they will with the lack of reliable decent starting pitching and the bats still not getting it together after they completely fell off the map the stretch run of last year, In my opinion you might have to clean house as far as the coaches and manager go. They had co-hitting coaches last year and got rid of one of them and they are still struggling to hit. And then when some players have a good game at the plate low and behold Hyde takes them out of the lineup for the next game. Just wild times right now for my fellow O’s fans. TLDR we suck right now, and I don’t like it lol.
He may in fact be done but, let’s not call this “results” just yet. Not the first starter to go to the pen to work some things out. His stuff is still well above average – his command has been terrible
I got a hat signed in 2010 by Andrew McCutchen and Charlie Morton. Never would’ve guessed those would be the only two guys on that 2010 squad still in MLB in 2025.
That was a long time ago in baseball years! It’s doesn’t shock me, seeing as they were 23 and 26 then.
If you had told me in 2010 two guys from that 2010 Pirates squad would be in the league in 2025, I’d have guessed McCutchen and Jose Tabata of all people. Maybe Neil Walker or Brad Lincoln, but it would’ve been awhile before I guessed Charlie Morton.
Mccutchen doesn’t surprise me at all, he’s still an above average player and was a legitimate star in his prime.
The Ground Chuck aged like fine wine, though. Good for him.
McCutchen is still a productive bat, Morton is looking cooked right now.
AA is lying in wait ready to pounce when Charlie is DFA’d
He wouldn’t report. He is done moving his family.
What would be wrong with getting a new messenger? The 2010 Orioles finally freed itself from the inept Dave Trembley/Juan Samuel garbage that was clipping along at a .305 pace. Buck Showalter took the same bunch of guys and a tired bullpen 34-23 down the stretch – the 2nd best record in the AL and 3rd best in MLB.
Get rid of Hyde and staff TODAY, and bring in a new messenger. A new approach. Accountability! There’s no reason for so many of the young guys to be in a funk, that goes back to teaching, not ability.
After the Royals, 12 coming up against the Twins (6), Angels, and Nats. 8-4 during that stretch is not out of reach. Even if they go 1-2 vs. Royals, that puts them at 21-24 with help on the way for this desperate rotation.
Because it’s May 1st, and Hyde deserves a chance with an actual rotation.
Philly-not a new thing, they closed 34-38 last season. The offense hasn’t turned around the same issues it had and has regressed from there, Hyde continues questionable lineup and pitching decisions.
If you wait for the Orioles to have an “actual rotation” he will be there forever.
Boom boom (out go the lights)
What an awesome off-season for the O’s. Really addressed all their needs. lol…
There shouldn’t be a comma before “too.” This is an archaic rule.