Charlie Morton needs Tommy John surgery:

Morton was obviously not very good this year, but I suspect that the Pirates are going to miss him more than people realize. As good as the pitching staff has been in 2012, I’ve currently got pretty big questions about 40% of the rotation (Lincoln and Correia) and I’d much rather have a healthy Charlie Morton in there getting groundballs than Rudy Owens, who I’ve got some reservations about.

I don’t know if I agree with that last bit. Rudy has a .603 minor league winning percentage, an outstanding walk rate, and does a good job of keeping the ball in the park. I wonder why it took the Pirates so long to bring him to the majors.