Veteran Orioles Pitcher Could Be One of Best Free Agent Signings This Winter

A veteran starter the Baltimore Orioles signed this offseason could turn out to be one of the best free agent signings this winter.

Sep 29, 2024; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (50) pitches the ball against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Truist Park. | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have had a questionable offseason, to say the least, but it has not all been as bad as many tend to think.

While the Tyler O'Neill and Gary Sanchez signings have, rightfully, left many scratching their heads, the team did add depth to their rotation, despite not adding a true ace to this point in the offseason.

Tomoyuki Sugano is a rookie for MLB, but a veteran of the sport professionally and should serve as a solid addition to the back end of the rotation.

Another veteran the Orioles signed, however, could quietly become one of the best signings of the winter across all of MLB.

Charlie Morton is entering his age-41 season, and his 18th year in MLB. Baltimore will be the veteran's sixth team in that span, and while he has not been an ace, he has been one of the better pitchers to fill the middle of a rotation for the better part of the last decade.

While Morton experienced injury issues and inconsistency early in his career, he has made 30 or more starts in every 162-game season since 2018, one of the few in the sport who can say they have done that.

Even pitchers who are considered "better" than Morton like Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander have not been able to accomplish that, and only Verlander is older than Morton.

Consistency in the rotation has been an issue for the Orioles.

Since 2018, only seven of their starters have made 30 or more starts in a given year. Six of those seven qualified for the ERA title, while Morton has done so in each of those seasons, and even did so in 29 starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011.

The veteran has pitched to a 3.64 ERA across 1,086 innings in 196 starts since 2018 with 1,254 strikeouts and a 117 ERA+. Since 2021, coinciding with the four seasons he spent with the Atlanta Braves, Morton pitched to a 3.87 ERA across 686 1/3 innings in 124 starts with 771 strikeouts and a 110 ERA+.

While Baltimore certainly needs an ace, they don't need Morton to be that; they just need him to serve as the veteran in the middle of the rotation who will post 30 or more times, qualify for the ERA title, and take a tremendous amount of innings off of the bullpen's workload.

Morton's consistency will be far more valuable than most expect, and when all is said and done, he could be one of the best free agency signings this winter.