Angels Urged to Trade for $15 Million All-Star in Major Deadline Move

When scouring the trade market, the Angels won't be alone in pursuing starting pitching. It's at a premium across the league, and for ballclubs leading their respective divisions, they might be even more incentivized to relinquish assets for more highly-touted arms.

With this in mind, the Angels may have to get a bit more creative in terms of working on the proverbial fringes.

David Schoenfield of ESPN believes that the Angels could be a nice fit for current Baltimore Orioles right-handed starter Charlie Morton. The 41-year-old inked a one-year deal with the O's in the offseason. Given Baltimore's disastrous start to the year coupled with his impending free agency, dealing Morton seems like a no-brainer.

"The Angels are surprisingly — shockingly? — hanging around .500. They're hitting .229 as a team with an OBP under .300 and they rank in the bottom half of the majors in rotation ERA and bullpen win probability added. In other words, they're not especially good at anything. Yet here they are, although they'll have to do it without manager Ron Washington, who is on medical leave the rest of the season. They could go in any direction, but rotation help probably makes the most sense. Baltimore's Morton is a free agent after this season, and while the 41-year-old looked ready for retirement after an awful first six weeks, he has a 2.90 ERA over his past six starts."

Morton knows how to pitch — and his experience in big games could come in handy for a ballclub that's on the younger side of things.

When doing a deep dive into his advanced analytics, Morton isn't particularly great at any one thing at this point in his career. However, he does rank in the 68th percentile in whiff percentage. At his age, it's also astounding that he averages 94.1 miles per hour on his fastball.

Morton is 5-7 with a 5.47 ERA. He would be a veteran innings-eater with postseason experience on a team desperate to break their decade long postseason drought.