Former Pirates starter Charlie Morton will have surgery on his left hamstring next week, the Phillies have announced. He will miss six to eight months, meaning he'll be out for the rest of the season. He tore the hamstring in his last start.
Morton, of course, spent parts of seven seasons with the Bucs, during which he was occasionally terrific and often very frustrating, before they sent him to Philadelphia last winter in a somewhat controversial salary-dumping trade. Morton clearly isn't an outstanding pitcher, but the Pirates plainly could have used extra rotation help. Maybe the hamstring tear was inevitable, or maybe it wouldn't have happened if he'd stayed with the Bucs.