Accepting Mediocrity

Charlie Morton is in the midst of a good game tonight. I don't want to see him pitch another one.

Morton entered tonight 2-11 with a 7.94 ERA in 16 starts. Those numbers aren't just bad, they're comically bad. By the end of tonight he'll have his ERA down to 7.50. I know it's a recession but there's no need to repeat the numbers of the 1930 Phillies.

Many fans, seemingly forgetting the automatic loss that each of Morton's first half starts was, apparently are willing to give him a shot at the 2011 rotation. Why?

I posted this seemingly innocuous comment on a local radio personality's game thread: "I hope to not see him in 2011. I take no positives from a season of 7+ ERA."

One would think it is uncontroversial that a 7.50 ERA season is bad. Oh, but I was wrong. The universal chorus said that Morton should come back due to his stuff.

Even looking at his career year, 2009, that Huntington & Co. hearken back to - what was it? A 4.55 ERA and 1.46 WHIP as batters hit .276/.354/.407 off him. That's the best he's done ever.

Fastball velocity is nice when that fastball isn't landing in the right field bleachers. Here we are with a guy who has a 6 ERA over 50 career starts now, over 250 innings. A good - no, a mediocre - team would farm him out and sign someone, anyone, so that Charlie Morton is not in the 2011 rotation. Let's see if the Pirates are that team.