If recent reports are true, then one Baltimore Orioles player who is pretty much guaranteed to be moved at the deadline might not get the warm and fuzzies about where he could be suiting up for the remainder of the season.
According to ESPN, among the top suitors for 41-year-old hurler Charlie Morton are the San Diego Padres, who could somewhat surprisingly be looking to bring rotation help to southern California at the deadline.
That would be bad news for Morton, who, now in the twilight of his career, has had a strong preference to play close to his Florida home, spending the six years prior to the 2025 campaign toiling in the Southeast, first in Tampa and later in Atlanta, before moving slightly further north to the Chesapeake Bay.
The Padres are among the front-runners for Orioles starter Charlie Morton
The numbers on the season don’t look great for Morton, with a 5.48 ERA on the year courtesy of an extremely rocky start to the season.
Morton’s poor performance out of the gate even forced a temporary move to the bullpen at the end of April, and the veteran appeared to be a prime DFA candidate as opposed to a highly sought after arm at the trade deadline.
However, that bullpen stint was short-lived, and the decision to return Morton to the rotation came down on May 7, just about a week after he was originally pulled as a starter. Since re-entering the rotation, Morton has made 14 appearances, racking up 67.2 innings pitched, and posting a 3.72 ERA.
So while Morton won’t be the most coveted arm on the market, his turnaround, combined with a wealth of veteran experience, makes him an in-demand option for contenders looking to shore up the back of their rotations down the stretch.
That’s where the Padres come in.
San Diego seems intent on trading away impending free-agent Dylan Cease with the hopes of finding answers to other holes on their big league roster, while also potentially getting some future assets for a player who they know full well they likely won’t be able to re-sign in the offseason.
Morton would then be the perfect pivot for them. Cease also suffered from a slow start out of the gate and hasn’t been the dominant ace that many expected, meaning the surging Morton could patch the hole in the rotation should Cease be flipped to better allocate assets for the present and future.
Unfortunately for Charlie, that would mean moving all the way across the country and playing out what might be his final big league season on his least favorite coast. On the plus side, should this come to fruition, he’d get the opportunity to pitch in meaningful games again.
All in all, there are certainly worse West Coast destinations to end up than sunny San Diego, even for a Florida guy like Charlie Morton.
