The Tigers have acquired right-hander Charlie Morton from the Orioles in exchange for minor league left-hander Micah Ashman. Baltimore will also send cash considerations. To free up space on their 40-man roster, the Tigers designated left-hander PJ Poulin for assignment. Jeff Passan of ESPN was the first to report that Morton was heading to Detroit.
Morton, 41, joins Chris Paddack as the Tigers’ second veteran rotation addition near the trade deadline. Morton signed a $15MM free agent deal with the Orioles in January, but lost his rotation job after five disastrous starts. After the Orioles designated Kyle Gibson for assignment on May 18th, Morton returned to the rotation. He’s been a new pitcher in those 11 starts, posting a 3.88 ERA, 22.7 K%, and 8.9 BB%.
Now Morton joins the first-place Tigers, who are tied for the best record in the American League. The club’s rotation consists of ace Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Paddack, and Morton. Reese Olson is out for the season with a shoulder strain, while free agent signing Alex Cobb was able to resume his rehab assignment on Tuesday as he recovers from a hip injury. Rookie Troy Melton, who drew two starts this month, has been moved to the bullpen to accommodate Morton.
It’s unclear how the Tigers would make it work if all six veteran pitchers are healthy, but that’s a good problem to have. Morton could perhaps serve as the Tigers’ fourth starter in the playoffs. He has extensive postseason experience, including for manager A.J. Hinch’s 2017-18 Astros.
Perhaps because of the success of his team or a desire to hang on to his best prospects, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris didn’t shoot for the top of the market at the trade deadline. Aside from adding Morton and Paddack to the rotation, Harris picked up Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, the injured Paul Sewald, and Codi Heuer as bullpen reinforcements. It was not unlike the club’s offseason, which consisted of modest free agent deals for Flaherty, Cobb, Gleyber Torres, Tommy Kahnle, John Brebbia, Manuel Margot, and Jose Urquidy.
At one point it seemed like the Orioles might move three starting pitchers, but Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano ended up staying put. Eflin was placed on the IL today with back discomfort, while Sugano likely didn’t move the needle for teams given his 15.2 K%. The Orioles still traded Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, Ramon Urias, Cedric Mullins, Andrew Kittredge, Seranthony Dominguez, Gregory Soto, and Bryan Baker this month, so it was an incredibly active trade deadline for Mike Elias and company.
Ashman, 22, was drafted in the 11th round by the Tigers last year out of the University of Utah. The reliever has a 1.49 ERA and 25.5 K-BB% in the minors this year and moved to Double-A earlier this month. It appears the Tigers are taking on all $4.76MM owed to Morton for the rest of the year, which likely dampened Baltimore’s return.
Solid!
as an Os fan, i am happy if we got anything for him. We are going nowhere this year, and hopefully even salary releif means slightly more we can spend in the offseason.
Exactly. Nothing is coming back but Morton has been solid after his early season struggles. He’s a useful back of the rotation arm. Just build the war chest for next year
etiher they are saving 5m or eating some of the contract for a decent prospect. I think he is worth near his contract, so it could be no money with the contract and still a fv 40 prospect (20-30 on most org lists)
He was on a one year deal right? Not sure how that makes offseason salary relief.
Ashman is having a quality year. Might turn into a good MLB player.
This is what worries me about this trade. It has the feel of the Alexander Smoltz trade. Detroit got what they needed with Alexznder but were burnt for 2 decades with losing Smoltz. I dont like DFA Poilin to make room on the 40 man roster. Having to good a year at Toledo.
Why? Literally why?
Gives you innings and post season experience maybe?
Mr. Elimination Game
Because he is a well seasoned veteran who will be great for that young pitching staff.
Why not. He’s been good and had bad start. He’s good clubhouse guy with tons of playoff experience
Look at the Twins post trade deadline last year when they were signing guys off the streets due to injuries
Now they will have to in order to field a team
He has been pitching pretty well since that crap start he had to the season. Not the big name we wanted but he can eat innings.
Keep us in the game and let the bats do their work
Because they innings, playoff experience, and he’s been doing well his last few starts. Probably helps getting out of the AL East too
Where? When?
What the hell is up with Harris?
Cool hopefully Charlie can retire with a ring!
He won with the braves
He has one with Houston too.
You mean his 3rd ring. He already has two, which is why he is a good addition to the roster. A veteran with postseason experience, who is better than his overall numbers show. He had a horrendous start to the year but has very much gotten back in line with his ability. He’s not a frontline starter, you already have that, he’s definitely a contributing piece who adds positive value.
Dude is way past his prime.
Westbound and down
“Dude”, Mr Morton to you, sure looked ‘past his prime’ today, he gave up 1 stinking run and pitched superbly.
You are past your prime in commenting and knowing things about baseball. Resign from this site.
This is the most disappointing deadline we’ve had in years. And we’ve been selling for the past 10 years!
Look at his recent stats. He’s been trending upwards for a while.
He gave up 7 runs just 3 games ago. His whip is almost 1.6. That’s terrible.
In the other 4 games in his last 5 he’s given up 3 ER twice, 2ER and 1 ER.
He’s 8-1 with a 3.6 in his last 10 starts. Figure it out guy lol
Morton to Motown
The Saltman cometh!
Are they using the missing minutes from the Epstein Jail tape?
Noooooooo…. When I said we needed a starter I didn’t mean him. Paddock, Cobb, Sewald and Morton. We got super old super fast.
Just why Scott?
God, that’s awful. Your farm is good enough to get better deadline acquisitions.
I just don’t get it.
It’s was rated #1 at the beginning of the season and they traded for a lot of meh! 🤷♂️
Morton will eat innings for you- and i am betting the price was super low due to strickly rental, and being old. He started the year terrible but has been solid for the past 2ish months.
I dont mind the starters he got at all but was hoping for a #2. Flaherty will nedd to step ip and Mize has to pumpbthe brakes…he’s been terrible since the all star break. Sewald is a bullpen guy who could help later and didn’t cost much….that could be a sneaky good pickup. If two of the BP guys play well then that fills the gaps.
Sewald deal is probably the best deal we made because it’s probably structured that we don’t give up anything if he doesn’t have more than a couple appearances. Meanwhile, if he goes back to being nails, we have a setup man with a team option
All free agents agents this year so…
I keep waiting for The Tigers to pull the trigger on something BIG, but so far it’s been more of a dumpster dive.
We shouldn’t be surprised. This is the type of garbage they did in the off-season too.
And that worked out so badly that they are tied for the best record in the AL????
The Tigers absolutely lost the deadline
Not at all, Goat. The losers will be the teams that emptied their farm system and dont make it to the World Series. By math, that will be most of the big traders.
by recent history it will be the padres. They gave up basically 70% of the value in their farm system.
They gave up De vries (most of the value in their system), Boston, hightower and neigbors, (who are about half of their draft from last year).
What is left is Salas, Mayfield and the dream that Cruz will blossom.. (they also traded another 5 or so depth prospects)
Agreed, The Tigers added a few decent players to an already damn good team, and didn’t have to give up much. That’s a win.
That assumes fun baseball the last 2 months doesn’t have value, or the value of longer-term buys like Duran. Only the Padres “emptied” their farm, but they also got 4.5 years of Mason Miller.
Plus an aggressive mentality at the deadline will eventually, some year, pay off in October.
Baseball is more than World Series appearances, it’s also For Love of the Game.
I guess we can assume that our pitchers won’t be gassed when the Post Season rolls around. We just added 6 pitchers and most of them appear to just be inning eaters.
Bingo. Get Mize and JFlare to the finish line and trust they’ll be the best versions of themselves
Tigers sending out a lot of Spring Training invites today. Oh wait.
Wow what did the Orioles have to give up to make that happen? lol
i am betting they got a guy drafted in the 15th round last year and are eating 2m of the remaining salary (i think he is paid 15m for this year only, so has about 5m still owed)
Busiest deadline I can ever remember. Unfortunately, the Os were terrible, which made it necessary.
they were not just bad, but the thought they would be good- so signed a bunch of rentals in the offseason. So there was just so much to be sold at the deadline.
Overall amazing haul for them down the road in exchange for being a little worse the rest of this season that is going nowhere.. They basically got a draft worth of players this deadline- De Braun (whom they traded for the 37 pick and used on him) and Boston are both first round talents, Watts-Brown is a 2nd round talent, Hightower is a 3rd round talent, Neighbors is a 4th round talent, and they got a ton of talent from the padres trade and in other deals.
On top of having what grades out to a top end draft- and they are set up for years.
I’d rate Hightower right there with De Braun. His bat is legit and his floor is quite high.
not going to argue much on that. I was going on where he was actually taken last year to point out that the Os basically got everyone but Mayfield from the first few rounds of the padres draft last year (and De Brun v Mayfield is close enough on value that i am going to say the Os basically got a drafts worth of value at the deadline)
Humberto Cruz was the arm to target. I’d have to believe he’s a top 150 prospect. He’s easily a top 5 padres prospect. He’s someone scouts prefer to Mayfield. Padres scouts have been very very high on him. So much so, that they traded LHP prospect Blake Dickerson very shortly after giving him 4th rd money in the 2023 draft in exchange for additional bonus pool money that helped them secure Cruz. I’m sure the Friars got wind of him while pitching for Mexicos U18 national team. He would have been a fantastic get. I’d of much preferred a Cruz and Bateman package to what we received. I’m still happy with Bateman, Hightower, Neighbors. I really believe Hightower turns into a top 100 prospect in the near future. I’m not at all familiar with Watts-Brown but I saw an updated ranking that had him 7th which was pretty surprising. Is his future in the bullpen? Seems we really did get ALOT of future bullpen arms. God, I wish Elias would start drafting pitchers in the first and supplemental rounds. Starting pitching is hard to come by!
Tigers did a lot this trade deadline, all pitching and not marquee guys, but still, they need pitching and went out and got it.
They replaced bad pitching, with bad pitching
Dude still can hit 97mph on the radar gun and his curveball is still really good but he just doesn’t have the command he once did and the mistakes go for dingers with men on base. Keep your fingers crossed, Tigers fans.
He’s last 8 starts he really only had one bad game
I think Detroit had one of the better trade deadlines.
Wild take. They almost got worse
I agree with angt222! Tigers did great! Let Fetter work with these guys and, … see who thrives.
This is the best they could come up with? Of all the starters on the market, they go after a washed 41 year old Morton.
A playoff hardened vet who has pitched well the past couple months other than one bad start against Tampa
I agree with Rick. Look closer at his recent stats since he got bombed at the start of the season.
Luke isn’t.
It amazes me that anyone expected anything different from Scott Harris. This approach has worked extremely well for Tigers, why would he change course now?
Exactly. Last night on Twitter, some guy said Harris failed the Tigers by losing offseason free agency and he should do more at the deadline. I told him “the Tigers were the best team in baseball almost all season. On behalf of baseball executives everywhere, what more do you want???” 😂
Morton is a poor man’s Jack Flaherty.
It’s sinking in and I’m at the point now where id rather have Morton and his experience than nothing.
BIG BEAUTIFUL DAY OFF TRADING DAY FOR DETROIT !!! That losing glitch really hammered home the cry for pitching. Fantastic additions, and the core hitters should be highly charged up as well. GO TIGERS !!!
I actually like this move by the tigers gives them a vet that can give someone a day off he can still give you 90 pitches and eat innings if the run support is there he will be fine also can work long relief if needed.. solid pickup..
and will not complain since he is getting paid, and not likely looking for a deal for next year (he is 42, how much is left in the tank)
So basically Verlander without the good vibes….
lol Tigers
Who did Balt get, prospect-wise?
Morton for Micah Ashman. A 6’7” LHRP who just made it to AA and has good numbers. Much more than I expected.
if true (not seen it reported elsewhere)- he is a relief prospect taken in the 11th round.. Great minor league numbers and could be part of the bullpen in the future. Not likely to see him on any top 30 lists since you need to be a really special releiver to crack those lists.
also note- if the tigers took the whole salary, then the Os are happy to just save 5m if the owner will let Elias move it into the pool for next year since basically everyone traded is a hole they need to fill next year. They will basically need 2 SP, a CF and half a bullpen. That 5m is a CF like Bader/Grisham/Mullins or a releiver who is that line between setup guy or middle releiver (very good MR or weaker SU, they can be pretty close)
The Tigers have multiple relief pitchers on their mlb pipeline top 30. Pretty much all of them are in the bottom half.
It is reported on the mlb.com website in transactions
Morton is better than Paddock and Paddock earned his keep in his first outing. Experienced starters who come to contending teams know how to handle the pressure.
I think Harris and Hinch are aligned. Get the starters to the 6th. Use that mix and match bullpen down the line.
If the offense…notably Riley Greene…hits, the Tigers can cruise to the playoffs, rest guys then try to roll the Astros, Mariners, Yankees and Jays.
Me? The teams in the A.L. that look tough are the Mariners and Jays. The Yankees do not scare me. And be careful, don’t sleep on the Red Sox.
Tiger season ends with 6 on the road vs Cleveland and Boston. Hopefully, they have the ALC sewn up by then.
Skubal
Flaherty
Mize
Morton
Paddock
Melton
I hope we go six man and see what Meltons about after that 7IP, 0 run, 0 walk performance.
Melton should go to the bullpen before the postseason. If he can adjust to warming up as a reliever, I think he’d rank as one of their best bullpen options even after the trades.
It’s already been announced that he is going to the bullpen.
Im glad they kept Melton. He has looked like a steal since they drafted him. Nextvyears rotation looks solid again: Skubal, Mize, Flaherty, Olson, Melton, Urquidy, Montero and Jobe at some point.
y…….a…….w……n.
I’m assuming that he was OK with going to a contender. Last stop on the line.
The Tigers are chasing their 2nd playoff berth in Scott Harris’ 3rd year. I’m not going to second-guess him.
Morton rebuilt his value, frrom the ashcan to the Ashman,
Hey O’s fans, this Micah Williams is not bad. High A ball. 39 innings, 46 K’s, just 8 BB’s, .763 WHIP. 1.6 ERA
Harris could have taken the opportunity to trade Torres.and Flaherty, along with those middling prospects we need to dump, for a real BIG RETURN.
HUGE returns this year!
Fans think Torres is going to give a hometown discount because it is so awesome in Detroit? And Flaherty…of course he wants a $5M option…Who wouldn’t when you can get $20+ on the free market.
Harris did well , but not do the important BIG MOVE.
SD sold Bateman, they have Mayfield …. think we will need a lefty soon? No….we get another hometown discount in Skubal? OK, right.
Zyher Hope…LA D…put him in an outfield with Clark…..no…Green is also signing a hometown discount….
Ok.
Remember Al Avila? Also was afraid to do the job.
What he did was great, but he still gets an F for.being a chicken ship.
As bad as the Tigers have played this month, trading both Torres and Flaherty would have been a colossal mistake. The A.L. Central is there for the Tiger’s picking. Just play .500 ball. Don’t wear your team out fighting to make the playoffs. Torres, arguably, is the Tiger’s most consistent bat. As up and down as Flaherty has been, he’s better than 1/2 the pitchers traded these last few days.
I am surprised Harris didn’t at least dig into Max Anderson or Liranzo to get a better relief pitcher, but I get the approach.
IMHO, the most important player right now, for the Tigers, is Riley Greene. He has to hit. He’s looked better this past week. Philly has some great pitching. Riley has to lead this team. He can’t K 2-3 x per night.
Avilla was horrible
Only on this site would trading for a washed up 41 year old pitcher be considered a big move lol.
Chevk his recent stats over the last 10 games. Most of his poor outing came early in the season. Recent history disagrees with you.
He had more walks than strikeouts in 2 of his past 3 starts and gave up 7 runs in one of them.
Recent history tells me that he’s a bum.
You’re cherry picking to support your argument.
Morton pitched for Houston. Baltimore has been terrible and it wears down on pitchers when they know they’re probably not going to win and the games your pitching are meaningless. A guy like Morton can pitch under pressure. He’s been there before. I don’t expect him to be another Doyle Alexander. But I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t give Hinch 5-6 innings of 2-3 run ball. It won’t matter if the Tigers can’t score more than 3 runs/game. But if they do, I can see the Tigers winning a lot of 6-3, 7-4, 5-4 games.
So the Tigers replace injured Reese Olsen, one of the better young pitchers in baseball, with the worst pitcher in baseball.
Who is the worst pitcher in baseball? Check Mortons last 10 games. Definitely not him as of late.
They were all good gets.
Listen up. The Tigers are going to win there division easily. In a short series with the depth of their roster and having the best SP in baseball able to pitch 2 – 3 games in a playoff series goes a long way. Having extra veteran starters to take the ball in September during meaningless games benefits them greatly, while other teams will be playing do or die games throughout the month. If you look at the history of pitching injuries most occur early in the season or late in the season. The Tigers have acquired depth to account for this. The price teams paid for RP’s was way overboard. The players the tigers got for what they gave away was a bigger advantage for Tigers. The didn’t panic and trade away any top prospects for rentals or over achievers. They will be fine and should finish the season as the number 1 seed in the AL. (The west and east divisions will beat each other up while the Tigers coast through the central)
Will he open a new Steakhouse in Detroit??
Tigers MUST sign Julio Daniel Martinez as a PH bat off the bench!
One thing being very unreported is the signing of Morton was partly to be able to assign Melton to the bullpen.
He’s a rookie, but he is impressive. Yes, he got knocked around in his MLB debut, but that happens all the time. He did finish that one with 2 more IP in which he had 5 K’s and kept the opponent scoreless those 2 IP. Then he was lights-out in his 2nd appearance: 7 shutout IPs, 0 BBs.
What stood out to me, besides his 99-mph FB and ease of delivery, was his poise. He was very impressive IMO.
So now Melton and Finnegan will assist Holton, Hurter, Kahnle and Vest.
Remember last year? Multi-million dollar relief pitchers like Hader and Clase blew late inning leads in the playoffs. I like the Tiger’s numbers in the pen. Hinch manages a bullpen as well as anyone in the game. As long as the Tiger offense can score 4 runs/game I like their chances. It won’t matter if they’re getting shutout.
Exactly. AJ just needed some other MLB arms to work with. Melton and Finnegan instantly give Vest some relief. Maybe fewer innings will also help Kahnle.
I also like the Morton acquisition. Doyle Alexander wasn’t the most ideal, sought-after pitcher in ’87, but he was lights-out down the stretch. Never underestimate a veteran thrust into a playoff race.
Guess my 82-year-old Cousin Fergie Jenkins,79-year-old Jim Palmer and 78-year-old Nolan Ryan weren’t available,so the Tigers settled for their (almost) nearest agemate-Morton’s a year older than my younger nephew.
Seriously,Morton,as we cowboys say,is nearing his last MLB round-up,yet the Tigers are smitten enough with him to acquire him,if for only a tub of chocolate ice cream.What’s up with the Tigers’ love of washed-up or never-was pitchers ?
Typical Harris moves, no risk low rewards but hopefully our core will get back to their winning ways and we’ll be fine! Otherwise it could be a short playoff run for the team. If we get back to where they were through June we should be fine, it’s a solid ball club and capable of winning it all
Why don’t more people.think Charlie Morton is great?
Aren’t those some pretty solid stats?
Charlie Morton doesn’t have the electric stuff that a bunch of other, younger, flame throwers have, but he’s been around. He knows what he wants to do. His ability to do it is the part we have to live with. He won’t crumble under the bright lights. It won’t be mental, if he fails, it will be physical. I think Hinch will know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.
Charlie was superb against a potent offense today that’s seen plenty of him. To all the people that panned him, you’re clueless, and I don’t really care what he does in subsequent starts, Morton was superb, he just needed some runs from your offense and got nothing.
I was not aware that he could still dial it up to 96. Pretty impressive for a 41 yr. old. I agree, Charlie was excellent. Paddock gets his second Tiger start vs. his old team on Tuesday. It should be fun.
Yeah, got outpitched. Greene made some nice catches in LF over the weekend, but he went hitless in Philly at the plate.
I happen to be a long time, super fervent Tiger fan who does not think Riley Greene is a long term, middle of the order bat. Pitchers appear to have figured him out. He needs to adjust.