By: Matthew Shinkle, Sports Talk Philly writer 
It was announced early Wednesday morning that the Houston Astros signed RHP Charlie Morton to a two-year deal, who spent majority of the 2016 season on the disabled list with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 33-year-old will have $14 million in guarantees in the deal, with additional bonuses where he will earn a $625K bonus for reaching 15, 20, 25, and 30 starts in each year during his contract.
Source: Morton deal with #Astros is two years, $14M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 16, 2016
Morton was originally acquired by the Phillies last offseason from the Pittsburgh Pirates for a minor league player, and made only four starts early in the season before tearing his hamstring and requiring season-ending surgery. In 2016, he pitched just 17 1/3 innings, going 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA.
Morton was acquired by the Phillies with the idea of surrounding the younger starting pitching rotation with some veteran leadership to both help the younger players develop, as well as eat some innings during the grind of the regular season, Unfortunately for the Phillies, Morton suffered the aforementioned hamstring tear during the season.
Morton goes to Houston in a rotation with Dallas Keuchel, who's looking to bounce back from a relatively poor 2016 season after having won the NL Cy Young award just two seasons ago.
