BALTIMORE – Like many veteran pitchers on expiring contracts, Charlie Morton’s name will appear with frequency this week as Major League Baseball’s trade deadline lurches toward its July 31 conclusion.
Any team acquiring Morton will get a 41-year-old sage, a two-time World Series champion and a master of reinvention who has turned a deceptive fastball and tight curve into an 18-year career.
They will also get a player unlike any other, one whose early-season underperformance exacerbated the Baltimore Orioles’ disappointing descent into last place, yet whose talent and self-awareness extracted himself from that morass into an asset desired by other teams.
Perhaps more than any big leaguer, Morton feels every dip and ascent deeply. And this season was a four-month journey that at times delved into guilt and remorse, doubt and denial - while wondering whether he should continue accepting his $15 million salary while his wife and four kids were home without him.
Those emotions won’t be far beneath the surface this week if the trade winds propel Morton to yet another destination.
