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Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Could Braves Reunite With Former All-Star Starter to Replace Chris Sale?

Originally posted on Atlanta Braves on SI
By Dave Holcomb | Last updated Jun 22, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The Atlanta Braves have turned things around over the last couple weeks. But now, the team has to keep digging out of its hole without the 2024 National League Cy Young winner.

The Braves announced Saturday the team has placed left-hander Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list because of a fractured left ribcage. MLB.com's Mark Bowman reported Sale sustained the injury on a diving play to field a ground ball during the ninth inning of his last start.

Sale's IL stint will retroactively begin on June 19. That means, in the best case scenario, he will be ready to return around the Fourth of July.

The Athletic's David O'Brien described Sale as "out indefinitely" on Saturday.

The Braves were already missing two other starting pitchers before Sale's injury -- Reynaldo López and AJ Smith-Shawver. There hasn't been an update on López since he underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery at the beginning of April. At that time, the Braves planned on López not throwing for 12 weeks.

Maybe, maybe, López will be back in August. Smith-Shawver is out for the season.

Without those three starters, the Braves turned to 20-year-old Didier Fuentes for Friday's game. Initially, the team described the move as an opportunity to give the starting rotation an extra day of rest.

That wasn't inaccurate. Because the Braves started Fuentes two days after Sale's last start and didn't simply replace Sale with Fuentes in the same rotation spot, everyone but Spencer Strider will be pushed back a day.

But with the Braves trying to climb their way back to .500 and into a playoff spot, the team might not be able to afford trusting Fuentes every five days.

Fuentes allowed four runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings Friday. More than the performance, though, he's so young. He literally turned 20 last week and has made two starts above Double-A in his career (one was the MLB start Friday).

To compete for a postseason berth, the Braves may be forced to acquire a starting pitcher at the MLB trade deadline. Given general manager Alex Anthopoulos' affinity for bringing back former Braves, Charlie Morton is a name that's probably going to enter the team's rumor mill.

Actually, it already has.

Me too, but it’s not like the options are great right now in the system. I can smell a Charlie Morton return at some point
— Dave Williams (@DWilliamsWJCL22) June 21, 2025

At 41 years old, Morton is more than twice the age of Fuentes. Of course, that could be good or bad.

Morton left Atlanta this offseason after the team elected not to re-sign him. Age was likely an issue for the club. The Braves wanted to give more opportunities to guys such as Grant Holmes, Smith-Shawver and unfortunately other pitchers who didn't make the team's roster out of Spring Training such as Ian Anderson.

Morton has pitched better during the second half of his career than the first half. He made his second consecutive All-Star team and finished third in Cy Young voting at 35 years old, which is an incredible feat.

That, though, was six years ago. Still, during the offseason, Morton signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles.

In April, the decision to allow Morton to depart appeared to absolutely be the right choice. The right-hander gave up 28 runs in his first 24.1 innings with the Orioles.

But since April 29, Morton is 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA. He also owns a 3.07 FIP and 50 strikeouts versus only 12 walks in 42.2 innings.

His overall numbers for the season are still ugly. But he's now been pitching well for twice as long as his slump was early in the year.

It probably won't take much to convince the Orioles to trade Morton. Baltimore sits in last place of the American League East with a 33-43 record. A 41-year-old pitcher on a one-year contract isn't much use to a team with the third-worst record in the AL.

Because Morton doesn't have any value to Baltimore, he won't cost much either. His experience could be extremely useful for the rest of the season, and his return won't disrupt any future plans the Braves have for their rotation in 2026.

I get it. Braves Country is likely tired of reunions -- Craig Kimbrel, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Jesse Chavez. All those players had great first tenures or unforgettable moments in an Atlanta uniform but their second stints (or sixth in Chavez's case) were quite uneventful (except maybe parts of Soler's end to the 2024 season).

Morton could be another former 2021 champion in line for a disappointing finale with the Braves.

But if the 2024 Cy Young winner is sidelined long term, the Braves might be desperate enough for the Morton flier.

This article first appeared on Atlanta Braves on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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