Alex Cora's Astros ties could bite Red Sox fans with trade deadline disaster

There are nearly two weeks until the trade deadline, and the Boston Red Sox already have one splash move under their belt.

However, it’d be naive to assume June’s trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants will be the Red Sox’s only deal this summer. A surging Red Sox team still needs starting pitching, and adding another bat wouldn’t hurt, either, especially if they have a chance to win their first AL East title since 2018.

If the Red Sox don’t want to look far for another pitcher, they could turn to a veteran that manager Alex Cora is all too familiar with: Baltimore Orioles pitcher Charlie Morton, who pitched for the Astros when Cora was their bench coach.

Morton, who turns 42 in November, has quietly left a dreadful April behind him. The two-time All-Star owns a 3.18 ERA and a 62-17 K-BB ratio since May 4, and he’s only allowed five home runs in 56 2/3 innings.

MLB insider Ken Rosenthal reported twice this week, both during Fox’s All-Star Game coverage and in a column for The Athletic, that a Cora-Morton reunion makes sense even if the Red Sox would “love to do better.”

“With Bryan Bello and Lucas Giolito both on a roll,” Rosenthal wrote, “perhaps the Sox would be OK with someone like Morton rather than a pure (and possibly unattainable) No. 2 starter.”

The Red Sox must avoid trading for Charlie Morton 

Two things can be true: Morton fits the Red Sox, and Boston should avoid trading for him this summer.

Morton will come cheap, partly because he’s months away from hitting free agency. That doesn’t mean the Red Sox should pursue him, not if they can add another pitcher before August 1.

Morton deserves credit for turning his season around, and he’s done an excellent job limiting home runs. However, he’s also a 41-year-old pitcher who began the season with a 9.45 ERA and 21 walks in his first 26 2/3 innings. If he regresses and returns to that April form, then the Red Sox — who entered the break only three games out of first place — are in big trouble, and it could even cost them home-field advantage in the playoffs.

To be clear, we’re not saying the Red Sox should overpay for someone like Sandy Alcantara, who still has a troubling 7.22 ERA. But the Red Sox must look into other options and at least try being aggressive in adding someone like the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen or the Athletics’ Jeffrey Springs.

We’ll be surprised if Morton still wears an Orioles uniform come Aug. 1. Whether or not he stays in the AL East with the Red Sox remains to be seen.