Pirates Extend Charlie Morton

The Pirates have come to terms with Charlie Morton on a three year extension with an initial value of $21 million, with a club option for a fourth year that could push the total value to $30 million, according to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

We’re not really sure what to think of this move just yet. We want to believe that #ElectricStuff will be able to produce consistent numbers, tons of groundballs, and a number of broken bats over a multi-year deal, but his career track record so far is not one that incites confidence when looking at what the Pirates just gave him.

Morton is coming off of a career best year in 2013, and it may be the case that the Pirates signing him is to make him more attractive as trade bait, but at the moment that doesn’t seem particularly likely. By the end of the deal, it’s assumed that the top of the rotation will feature Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, but we don’t know much about what else will be there. Morton may just be a security blanket to ensure that at the very worst the team has a serviceable fifth starter going forward for the next few years. We’ll have to see.