Charlie Morton: Off to Philly as the Rebuild Continues

Ground Chuck was a lot of things; electric, frustrating, jinxed, introspective and injured all come to mind. Unfortunately for all parties concerned, consistent wasn't among those things. So Charlie Morton and his $8M deal (with a $1M buyout in 2017) have been shipped to the Phillies for David Whitehead, a 23 year old righty that looks from his resume to likely provide organizational depth; he'll start at Altoona.

Charlie Morton (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

A plain and simple salary dump? Well, we're sure the FO would prefer you look at it as asset reallocation - enter stage right Jon Niese and his $9M salary; exit stage left Charlie and his $8M hit. The back end of the rotation was a train wreck last year, and we see this as a somewhat convoluted Niese-for-Morton swap to fill the #4 spot in the rotation.

That theory will be put to the test. If the Bucs get a true mid-rotation guy either through the market or a trade, then we'll know there was a method to their madness. We'd like to see them come up with a reclamation project to challenge Jeff Locke for the five hole in addition to a proven guy to plug in the middle. So in our eyes, they're two pitchers shy of a load today. Clint Hurdle told Rob Biertempfel of the Trib that "We'll definitely go look at another pitcher or two. We have a plan."

Keep in mind that the future of the staff is likely a year away, with Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Nick Kingham and company all slated to toss for Indy sometime this year. They all project to be minimally mid-rotation guys, while other pitchers like Trevor Williams and Steven Brault could step up to become back-end candidates.

So goodbye, Charlie. We wish you luck in Philly, and hope that the FO's blueprint to transition the pitching staff takes root this season and isn't short-changed into 2017.