Cross Charlie Morton off the list of potential starting pitching options for the Boston Red Sox. The 37-year-old right-handed pitcher is headed to Atlanta on a one-year $15 million contract.
MLB.com’s Mark Feisand reported the move and tweeted:
“BREAKING: Charlie Morton has agreed to terms on a one-year, $15 million deal with the Braves. The deal was negotiated by Andrew Lowenthal and BB Abbott of Jet Sports. It’s the largest free agent contract so far this offseason.”
He later added that Morton’s choice came down to either Atlanta or returning to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Morton was born in New Jersey but grew up in Connecticut and went to high school at Joel Barlow High in Redding, Connecticut. His age and New England roots made many in baseball wonder if he might want to finish his career in Boston, which badly needs starting rotation help.
Instead, he’s headed to Atlanta where he began his career in 2008.
Morton was 2-2 with a 4.74 earned run average in the truncated 2020 season. But in 2018 as a member of the Houston Astros and 2019 with the Rays, he curveballed his way to a 31-9 record with an ERA over those two seasons of 3.09 making him one of the sports’ most dominant pitchers.
He’s been a much better pitcher late in his career. In 13 seasons with five franchises (Tampa, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlanta) he’s 93-89 with a 4.08 ERA.
The Red Sox, who haven’t shown an inclination to wade into the high-end pitching market are reportedly interested in J.A. Happ and could pursue Corey Kluber, Garrett Richards, Jake Odorizzi or Chris Archer in the next free agent tier.
Boston had one of the worst records in all of baseball in 2020 and their team ERA of 5.58 was 28th out of 30 Major League teams.
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