DETROIT — A.J. Hinch has delivered bad news many times in his career, but rarely has it stretched into a two-hour conversation.
Such was his respect for veteran pitcher Charlie Morton, whose goodbye lasted far longer than expected.
Morton, 41, was designated for assignment on Sunday after a rough seven-week stint with the Tigers following his acquisition from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline. After some promising moments in August, Morton posted an 11.60 ERA over his last five starts. The Tigers lost all five, including an ugly defeat to the Atlanta Braves on Friday.
“I met with Charlie off site last night and had an incredible conversation with him,” Hinch said. “I gave him the reality that this was the end here with the Tigers, and that conversation is never easy.
“I love the man. He gave us what he could, and obviously we don’t have the time to sort it out over the next week as we push forward for more wins. So given that he wasn’t going to pitch, and we were kind of getting toward the end of the line of options, we made the move to strengthen our pen for today and into the next couple series.”
The Tigers selected the contract of right-hander Tanner Rainey from Triple-A Toledo to take Morton’s roster spot.
Another failed starting acquisition, Chris Paddack, has already been shifted to the bullpen. The Tigers considered the same move with Morton but ultimately decided against it.
“We talked about it all day yesterday, amongst the group, my staff, and the office,” Hinch said. “There was some concern about him being able to locate his pitches. That’s been the issue with him in his last few outings. When we started to wonder about his strike-throwing, it became questionable how he could be deployed. Do you bank on the experience all of a sudden clicking for him, as the innings only get more important between now and the end of the regular season and into October? Or do you look at it through the lens of reality of what we’re seeing?”
Morton turns 42 in November, and this could mark the final stop of his 18-year MLB career.
Hinch also managed Morton with the Astros in 2017 and 2018.
“I wish our fans had a longer view of Charlie,” Hinch said. “I know it was quick, and there were some excellent outings and some that were hard for all of us, including Charlie. But man to man, we sat together for almost two hours last night, which is uncommon when you’re delivering news of that magnitude, especially with where he’s at in his career and his age and the timing of this year. Personally, it meant a lot for me to do a face-to-face with him. We got to reminisce about a lot of times together that no one else will probably care about except for me and him and some teammates and some fans back in the day. But if I ever get used to delivering that kind of news, I’m in the wrong business, especially to somebody of his quality.”