Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Morton gets another chance in the rotation:
The Orioles moved right-hander Charlie Morton to the bullpen last week after he struggled badly in the first month of the season. The 41-year-old has still walked (six) more batters than he’s struck out (five) and allowed a 6.43 ERA in seven innings of work as a reliever, however. It’s hardly an impressive performance, but the Orioles are nonetheless turning to Morton in the rotation once again today as he’s slated to start against the Twins and righty Simeon Woods Richardson (4.03 ERA in six appearances) at 6:40pm local time in Minnesota. With right-hander Zach Eflin seemingly poised to return to the Orioles’ rotation in the near future, it’s possible today’s start could be Morton’s final opportunity to make a good impression in a rotation role for some time.
2. Bregman searching for No. 200:
Over the weekend, a hitter who has the option to re-enter free agency this offseason slugged the 200th homer of his career when Cody Bellinger sent a pitch from Rays righty Taj Bradley into the seats. The milestone achievement was a rare bright spot in the 2025 season for Bellinger, who has struggled to a .205/.281/.389 slash line in his first 33 games in a Yankees uniform. With Bellinger now having reached career homer No. 200, another hitter in the AL East with an opt-out opportunity this winter sits on the cusp of that same milestone: Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman. Bregman hit his 199th homer late last week amid what’s been a brilliant first campaign with Boston that’s seen him hit .315/.393/.580. Will he get his milestone homer against Tyler Mahle (1.19 ERA in seven starts) and the Rangers this evening?
3. Top prospects face off in Colorado:
A pair of rookie hurlers and recent first-round picks are scheduled to face off tonight when the Tigers and Jackson Jobe face Chase Dollander and the Rockies at Coors Field in a game scheduled for 6:40pm local time. Jobe, 22, was selected third overall by Detroit in 2021 and made his big league debut with two scoreless relief appearances last year. This season, he’s in the Tigers’ rotation with mixed results to this point. Jobe’s 3.38 ERA is impressive, but it’s belied by a subpar 17.6% strikeout rate against an elevated 13.7% walk rate which have contributed to a lackluster 4.96 FIP.
Dollander, the No. 9 overall pick in 2023, has faced struggles of his own in his first taste of big league action. He’s fresh off a nice start against the Braves (one run, two hits, three walks, four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings) and will look to build some momentum on the back of that performance. While Dollander is striking out a solid 22.3% of opponents with a much more manageable 8.9% walk rate, he’s also surrendered a whopping eight home runs in just 25 innings this year. Six of those homers were surrendered on the road, so his trouble with the long ball can’t even be attributed to the difficulties of pitching at Coors.
Both Jobe and Dollander were top-10 picks, and both entered the season ranked among Baseball America’s top-10 prospects in the entire sport. That type of showdown is obviously quite rare, making tonight’s performance a fun one to watch — especially for fans who like to keep a close eye on the game’s next wave of young talent.
I didn’t think Bellinger would be struggling this much, honestly thought he’d be raking with the Yankees…
Thought he was going to go off in that park. Season is still young though so plenty of time
Yup, a lefty power hitter at Yankee Stadium is a recipe for nothing but feasting on homeruns.
Acoss – Could be worse, have you seen Joc Pederson’s numbers? How the heck do you go from a .908 OPS all the way down to .378 OPS?
I know it’s only 98 PA’s but still, kinda scary.especially paying him $19M this year including the option buyout.
@Acoss1331
His power was sapped after that injury to his shoulder. The Dodgers were right not to keep him after that injury. Same thing is going to happen to Griffin Conine.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/griffin-conine-to-under…
Bellinger certainly has been majorly impacted by the torn labrum (on his lead shoulder while hitting). And shoulders are tricky.
But to simply declare that the “same thing is going to happen to Griffin Conine” is nothing but attention-mongering unless you know all of the injury and surgical details which clearly you do not. Plus it is on his back shoulder when he is at the plate, which is not the power-driver.
.222 BABIP. He’s been hitting a ton of lazy fly balls as opposed to linedrives.
Across: Seems to me he has the same problem as Jazz, Volpe, Joey Gallo (yes, I said it), and other hitters that keep a looping uppercut swing in an attempt to pull/lift the ball. They simply throw right over their swing.
If you didn’t see it, his 200th HR was a lower pitch, so he was able to connect.
Clip,
Bellinger needs to go back to his 2023 form, put the ball in play more it seems. He’s gone back to that big uppercut swing then…
It’s a bit like righties coming into Fenway. Sometimes hitters get away from their natural strengths.
Also, with a win tonight by ATL vs. CIN (SP: Hunter Greene), they’ll be back to .500 at 18-18, which will be the quickest any team in history has started 0-7 and gotten back to .500.
Small victories.
Huh?
It means that they started off 0-7, and have gotten back to .500 quicker than any team in history.
But why would I care?
Run – I knew Sale would get on track, and he certainly has.
@Fever Pitch Guy
Where’s that Braves fan that was crying about Sale not being good, despite his SIERA in the low 2-range. It was only a question of time when he’s get back on track, given that he was pitching so well based on SIERA.
@York: Yep. Just a slight adjustment to his arm angle has made all the difference for him in his last 3 starts. Raised it back to last season’s angle and release point. Fb velocity up, better command of his slider. Last night in the after game presser, he talked about the work he’s put in w/bullpens and video review to make the adjustment.
I have to admit I was a bit worried, because it was getting to the point where Sale was noticeably frustrated on the mound, and that’s rarely a good mental space to be in. I was really hoping his luck would turn around a bit for him; otherwise, I was questioning whether it wouldn’t be a downward spiral or if something was off from an injury standpoint.
I did notice he looked a little different this year, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint why. Looking at side by side still photos, I can now see the arm angle difference you’re talking about and the resulting dip in release point.
The Braves are going to need Sale desperately if they really going to contend, and especially if they’re going to do anything in the post-season.
It has been one heck of a bumpy ride already this year with the Braves. Although, hopefully the worst is behind us, and the Braves can look forward with Acuña Jr. bringing back some life in the clubhouse and Strider once again dominating on the mound.
I still think the Braves are going to have to make some additions to their bullpen, but once they get everyone healthy, they can use Eli White as a super utility, and let the best man win when it comes to Verdugo and Profar in LF. I think Profar may be able to play elsewhere, but it isn’t like he can play shortstop anymore, so that doesn’t really help much.
It’ll be interesting to see when Atlanta has all their horses in the barn and ready to go. They’ll still be without Reynaldo Lopez and Jimenez, which are two major losses, but I think Daysbel can help cover for Jimenez and hopefully AJSS can cover for Lopez.
Fever – I never gave up on Sale, but maybe Vaughn Grissom was hoping for a collapse.
Don’t hold your breath until Bellinger exercises that opt-out. The bat speed has really taken a dive, and it doesn’t seem to be coming back. Oh well, the Yankees are off the hook after 2026.
Morton is gonna threaten retirement *again* hoping to finagle a $12.5M deal and nobody will bite and he might actually be *forced* to retire and not be able to use it as a negotiating cudgle.
Would you say no to $15M to go and play the game you love, regardless of your net worth, to try and write a better ending than the one you have? There were some good pitchers between what Morton and Burnes got paid (see NYM’s acquisitions).
Of course. There’s this old Daniel Tosh bit about football salaries and how the guys on various lower level squads on an NFL team still get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There are borderline players who barely manage to hang around the 40 man roster who we see as ‘cheap’ because they ‘only’ make $780,000 or whatever- and in the real world that’s a top level executive’s salary at a huge multi-national corporation.
My point isn’t about the money, it’s the negotiating tactic he’s been using for most of his career now.
Like 8 years ago, he was coming off his stint with the Astros where his AAV was like $7M or something and basically all but filed his retirement papers and then got ‘lured back’ with a 2 year/$30M deal with the Rays, then he pulled that off again with the Braves to the tune of like 5 years/$90M over 2 or 3 contracts and has continued doing it and has continued to say in the media he’s leaning toward retirement to spend time with his kids- who, if this is all true, were, say, 8 years old when he started this approach and are now like 16, say, or if they were 12 they’re now 20, etc.
I just find it funny that Charlie Morton has had this uniquely effective approach of claiming he’s leaning toward retirement in order to secure larger paychecks over shorter periods of time- because there have been other players who’ve tried this or even said they’re available and got no offers and were kinda told by the league ‘you’re retired, unless you wanna go play somewhere else for virtually no money and just ‘the love of the game’.” and I am simply wondering if this is finally it for Morton and these ‘I thought I was out, but they pulled me back in’ tactics working for him.
Like I am wondering if Morton will attempt the whole “I am leaning toward retirement to spend time with my kids” thing again, fully expecting another contract offer to ‘lure him out of retirement’ and the league finally goes “You know what? you should absolutely do that. Congrats on the career.”
Ah, but if he weren’t producing (this year being an anomaly so far), he wouldn’t be getting the checks. ATL was fine giving him high-AAV short-term deals with no buyouts because it meant they weren’t mortgaging the future while gambling to get TOR results, which he delivered more years than not. The Favre approach wouldn’t work his 2021 was like his 2025. The no buyout also helped him secure more on the front-end, at least with ATL.
@TTO
You have nothing to show he would have been paid differently if he had not considered retirement. He was signed because he was an effective, and smart pitcher, who has gotten the most from his ability. The ability just may no longer be there. If anything, his limiting where he will play may have cost him money.
But your version is unprovable too.
I am of the opinion he’s used the retirement thing to leverage his position in free agency, that’s all.
It’s been a consistent thing he says in the media or is reported by “insiders” that does not seem to happen with many other players.
Last one I can really remember like this was the latter years of Clemens’ career and all his prorated seasons.
You seem very defensive of someone you don’t know when I am going by his actual quotes to the media…
Charlie probably threatened them with retirement if they kept him in the bullpen.
I’m not sure how much of a threat that would be. If he retires, he walks away from the contract, thus saving them some money.
Also, if he retires, he stops hurting them, since no matter where they’ve tried to use him, he’s caused negative outcomes.
If he had threatened to retire, pretty sure the O’s would have hosted an elaborate party and then offered him a cab to the airport.
Can’t blame Morton or any other 40ish player, especially pitchers to extend their careers even if they are not up to their previous standards. If teams are going to pay them, as in Morton’s case $15M for one year, it is probably more money than they made in their 1st 5+ years in the league. Take it while you can get it. Most retirees either go into coaching or broadcasting.
Not a lot of money in coaching but broadcasting can be lucrative if you are very good! So take it while you can get it.
For a guy who didn’t want Alex B , thank goodness we have him or we’d be nothing but a 500 club!!! Oh wait….still the main reason we’re not 2 games under 500!!!
Bregman has feasted off the Green Monster as I was predicting. He’s a good enough player to make that adjustment. His opposite field (to RF) batted balls has fallen to 9.6% as opposed to 20% last season.
YBC – I’ll be fair by giving him a compliment and a crticism:
He’s actually got better numbers on the road.
BA .342 Road, .284 Fenway
OPS 1.009 Road, .932 Fenway
However he’s been quite bad in Close & Late with a .130 BA and .361 OPS.
Right now I’m glad he’s on my team, but he’s definitely not the guy I want at the plate with the game on the line in the 9th inning.
@FPG That’s such a small sample size. Four more hits at home and four less on the road balances the scale.
YBC – I agree it’s a small sample size, but your comment about feasting off the Green Monster was also related to this season …. correct? ;O)
I’m sure that’s a large sample size you’re making that evaluation on.
Pukes
Another Bregman article
Why? Why do they insist on working it in there….?
Im glad he is doing well.
Morton is going to be the new Jesse Chavez. I’m just waiting for the alert he’s been DFA’ed and then signs with Atlanta. He’ll end up having a big 2nd half and ride off into the sunset.
…then come out of retirement to pitch for PIT for $9M.
How bout them Tigers? Lol
Morton is not the problem in Baltimore, of course. He’s a symptom of the problem.
Os owner Rubenstien gave ok for FO Elias to grow payroll. And he did … by 55 mil this past off season. Oof.
Mr. Rubenstien is no spring chicken. What’s a quicker way to right the ship? Stay with this FO or move on? Hmm.
Elias is not getting canned after 1 bad season. Hyde will.
Jeff-that’s a fair question to ask. Elias and company have been around since after the 2018 offseason and have produced 0 postseason wins. If you hear a clock ticking, that ticking is getting louder.
So far, Elias the scout has good marks but Elias the GM has given the team Eflin (on an expiring deal), one year of Burnes and honestly less results than some previous regimes. He didn’t panic-extend Chris Davis or trade Eddie Murray for Juan Bell, Brian Holton, and Ken Holtzman yet, but he certainly hasn’t ripped off the Mariners for Adam Jones or wheedled an “old 30” Frank Robinson away from the Reds.
Especially given the losing required in 2019-2021 and giving up any glimmer of hope in 2022, the Elias regime gets a C-minus interim grade in May 2025 and its being carried for now by the drafting. Results and continued success are weighed more heavily as time passes.
TM: like “C-minus interim grade”.
Complete transparency for Morton starting today would be:
“Morton starts today because he is our only currently rostered player with any chance of pitching more than 3 innings who is healthy and rested. He’s a sunk cost so if he gets hurt or gives up 20 runs, it doesn’t matter. We don’t want to waste an option on a minor leaguer who we don’t think is good enough anyway but we will try to sell you on later. Maybe our bats will suddenly come alive in game 35, you never know.”
The inertia continues. Hyde, Mateo, Perez, Sanchez, and Morton all remain Orioles. Somehow, this level of productivity continues to be acceptable.
Doesn’t make any sense to cut Sanchez right now. He has 30 abs and he’s better than Banuelos or whatever 4A catcher we have ready. Basallo is not. Mateo, as bad as he is, can’t go when we have multiple infielders on the shelf.
With a bad start—Morton should be DFA’d. He’s cooked.
Bigz they’ve got Rivera and 2 guys at AAA they can bring up who can’t be any worse than Mateo at this point
Jobe will dominate this matchup!
Neither did, but the win is what counts. I can’t believe Chet Lemon passed away. That hurts.
The irony of all these comments that Bellinger took a pitch up out of the zone for a game tying home run, which set the Yankees up to win the whole thing eventually.
Chet Lemon passed away at 70. That hurts my heart, childhood and everything