BALTIMORE (AP) — Veteran right-hander Charlie Morton and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract on Friday.
The 41-year-old Morton, the hero of Game 7 of the 2017 World Series with Houston, will try to fill a hole in Baltimore's rotation. It will be Morton’s 18th major league season.
The Orioles also signed 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano of Japan this offseason to a $13 million, one-year deal. Baltimore lost its ace from 2024 in Corbin Burnes, who signed a $210 million contract with Arizona last month.
Morton has a career record of 138-123. He pitched 165 1/3 innings for Atlanta last year, going 8-10 with a 4.19 ERA.
He is one of four pitchers to make at least 30 starts in each full season since 2018 (not including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season), joining José Berríos, Patrick Corbin and Aaron Nola. During the last four years with the Braves, Morton went 45-34 with a 3.87 ERA.
In addition to the Braves and Astros, Morton has played for Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
To make room on their 40-man roster, the Orioles designed catcher Rene Pinto for assignment.
Orioles general manager Mike Elias has a history of bringing in veteran starters on one-year deals. Burnes was acquired in a trade from Milwaukee ahead of last season. Elias signed Kyle Gibson in 2023 and Jordan Lyles the year before.
The Orioles have made the playoffs each of the past two seasons but were swept in their initial series each time.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton throws in the first inning of a make-up baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Writer-director Jeff Baena, whose darkly comedic independent films included “The Little Hours” and who was married to his frequent creative collaborator Aubrey Plaza, has died. He was 47.
Baena was found dead Friday morning at a Los Angeles home, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office. His death was ruled a suicide.
Baena co-wrote David O. Russell's 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees” and wrote and directed five of his own films, four of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
He had been dating Plaza for three years before she starred in his 2014 directorial debut, the zombie comedy “Life After Beth." His next film, 2016's “Joshy,” featured Thomas Middleditch as a man who gets together with friends months after his fiancee commits suicide.
The son of an attorney and teacher, Baena grew up in Miami and attended film school at New York University. He told podcaster Marc Maron in a 2017 interview that his interest in cinema was sparked after watching Stanley Kubrick's “A Clockwork Orange” and Federico Fellini's “8 1/2” as a child.
“I was always drawn to left-of-center things,” he told Jim Alexander two years ago in an interview for the Reel Talker YouTube channel.
Baena said in the same interview that it was “amazing” to work with Plaza, who appeared in four of his five films. The 40-year-old actor and producer rose to fame playing April Ludgate on the television series “Parks and Recreation” and was nominated for an Emmy for her role on “The White Lotus.” The couple married in 2021.
“The opportunities to create together, to do something creative where we're both fulfilled, it's like, how rare is that? She's down and she's so talented, so I'm really lucky," Baena said.
FILE - Aubrey Plaza, right, and Jeff Baena arrive at the premiere of "The Little Hours" at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival in Culver City, Calif., on Monday, June 19, 2017. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Jeff Baena arrives at the premiere of "Spin Me Round," Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, at The London in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
