When the Atlanta Braves signed Charlie Morton before the 2021 season, it was a fun full circle moment as he was a guy that was drafted by the Braves back in 2002 and the hope was he had a season or two left in his arm. Few honestly thought that things would turn out as well as they did.
Four seasons later, Morton had given the Braves a 3.87 ERA across 686.1 innings with 771 strikeouts against just 269 walks. Every year, the critics (including yours truly) would think that Father Time would come for him only for Morton to another 160+ quality innings year after year. Without Morton, the Braves don't even get to the World Series in 2021.
Unfortunately, Morton's time with Atlanta is officially over. After the Braves let him walk after the season, there was some that thought he would either call it a career unless Atlanta came calling. Instead, the Orioles signed Morton to a one year, $15 million deal on Friday.
Right-hander Charlie Morton and the Baltimore Orioles are in agreement on a one-year, $15 million contract, sources tell ESPN. The Orioles' rotation now includes Morton, Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and a variety of others who will vie for innings.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 3, 2025
Charlie Morton signs deal with the Orioles and now the Braves have lost a fallback option
There was no shortage of speculation that the Braves would bring Morton back again at some point given how many times they had done so previously. However, most of the speculation there was that Atlanta could be interested in a reunion if the deal was somewhere in the $10 million range. Baltimore ponied up $15 million for the 41 year-old and honestly, good for him.
The reality is that the Braves just needed to move on. Relying on aging arms just isn't sustainable as good as Morton has been. If the deals are short and relatively cheap, then sure...take a shot. Once you start getting into the healthy eight figure AAV territory, betting on a guy who will be 41 for the entirety of the 2025 season and showed signs of regression last season is problematic.
However, the Braves now no longer have the option of Morton as a fallback for their rotation. One hopes that Morton does great with Baltimore as that is a fun team and he deserves all the success in the world. He also just got significantly more than he probably should have and this isn't an argument for why the Braves should have paid Morton $15 million (that would be bad). Unfortunately, his gain is another example of the market moving and the Braves still standing pat waiting for the right opportunity to find them.