The Pirates announced today that prospective fifth starter Scott Olsen will open the season on the disabled list - opening the door for Charlie Morton to "win" the job.
This decision was a real "Clint's Choice" anyway as these pitchers basically competed with each other to be the most hittable in the league. Batters hit .303/.360/.501 against Olsen and .303/.369/.462 against Morton over the past two seasons. George Brett hit .305/.369/.487 for his career so we are basically facing a lineup of nine George Bretts with either of those guys. Of course, George Brett is usually hammered now so that's what gives us hope for this 2011 WFC season.
Most of the reactions I have seen are positive, along the lines of, Charlie Morton is a great guy and deserves another chance to succeed. Actually I know a lot of guys who are great guys. None of them went 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA last season and none of them are in a major league starting rotation.
I posted on these pages that the Pirates needed to sign two legitimate starting pitchers in the offseason. Knowing we wouldn't get any real free agents, I suggested Kevin Correia and Rich Harden. Instead of Harden who is 55-34 with a 3.63 ERA in his career, because Pirates management knows more than me, we have in our rotation Charlie Morton, 11-29 with a 5.98. On the positive side, some girl I met a few times who seemed pretty nice likes Charlie Morton, is from near his hometown and says he is nice. What a way to do business as one of the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball.
Morton had a pretty decent spring, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteBesides, he's got "great stuff".
He had a good stats last spring training - 4.38 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Beware of spring stats, a guy like Morton is going all out trying to make the team and likely facing batters who are just trying to get ready for April 1.
ReplyDelete