The Baltimore Orioles fell short in the postseason for the second year in a row, losing to the Kansas City Royals in a two-game sweep in the AL Wild Card Series.
This offseason, fans were waiting to see what general manager Mike Elias would do to improve the roster. Thus far, the team added the likes of Tyler O’Neill, Zach Eflin, and Tomoyuki Sugano, while watching both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox get better on paper with their offseason moves.
The Orioles watched ace Corbin Burnes, who they acquired last offseason, leave for the Arizona Diamondbacks on a six-year, $210 million contract. With that, the Orioles had a glaring hole at the top of their starting rotation, with very limited options available. Well, they found their new starter on Friday.
According to various reports, the Orioles are signing former Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton to a one-year, $15 million contract. Morton is entering his age-41 season.
Let’s just say that some Orioles fans aren’t thrilled with Elias’ pivot plan.
Orioles fans not happy with team replacing Corbin Burnes with Charlie Morton
This isn’t to say that Morton is a bad pitcher at all. Rather, Morton is near the end of his career, while Burnes was a legitimate American League Cy Young candidate in what turned out to be his lone season in Baltimore.
This past season with the Braves, Morton recorded a 4.19 ERA, a 1.325 WHIP, an 8-10 win-loss record, 167 strikeouts, and 65 walks in 165.1 innings (30 starts).
After four years, the Braves let Morton hit free agency ahead of his age-41 season. Now, he is heading to Baltimore, where he will be in a rotation featuring Grayson Rodriguez, Eflin, and Sugano.
That’s not to say it’s a bad rotation, it’s pretty good. But you see the Yankees add Max Fried to their rotation alongside Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, while the Red Sox drastically improve theirs by adding Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler.
We’ll see if the Orioles and Elias can prove the critics wrong with a strong 2025 season. But with a young roster to build around, the fanbase was hoping for a bit more.
