Pittsburgh Pirates, Charlie Morton Agree to Extension

Charlie Morton inks extension to be a Pirate through at least the 2016 season.

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, the Pittsburgh Pirates and pitcher Charlie Morton have agreed to a contract extension. The terms of the deal, as laid out by Passan, are as follows:

2014: $4MM, 2015 and 2016: $8MM each season, 2017: $9.5MM (club option) or $1MM buyout; If Morton is traded, the club option becomes a mutual option. If this is triggered and Morton declines his end, he forfeits the buyout.

This sure seems like a win-win deal especially when you hear Morton’s agent, Andrew Lowenthal of Jet Sports Management (per Passan):

"“He loves the city. He loves the fans. The team stuck by him. This is Charlie’s way of being loyal to the organization. The contract is a win-win.”"

See? Even Morton’s agent said it was a win-win.

Morton missed the majority of 2012 and a portion of 2013 recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery. In terms of ERA+, 2013 was Morton’s best season since entering the league as a member of the Atlanta Braves in 2008, earning a 108 in that category. He started 20 games and posted a record of 7-4 with a 3.26 ERA and a 1.284 WHIP. He also had the lowest H/9 (8.8) and HR/9 (0.5) of his career.

Among all pitchers who hurled at least 110 IP, Morton’s GB% of 62.9% was over four percentage points higher than MLB’s next best rate (Tyler Chatwood – 58.5%).

For his career, Morton owns a 30-49 record, 4.70 ERA and 1.503 WHIP.

Morton started Game 4 of the NLDS for the Buccos and was saddled with the loss after allowing only two runs in 5.2 innings.