Morgan was a dependable reliever for Cleveland. He could be for the Cubs.
Eli Morgan was acquired from the Guardians in November for minor leaguer Alfonsin Rosario.
The 5’10”, 180 lb reliever is another prospect-turned-suspect whose advancing age discourages teams from hosting him, but he throws decently, though with a tendency to give up the long ball.
Still, he posted four good years with Cleveland, with diminishing innings each year, and logged 265⅓ total innings during that period. Morgan features a quality assortment capped by a fastball at 92-93, with a slider, curve, cutter, and change also offered. The cutter and change are rarely deployed and have been phased out in recent years.
Morgan pitches out of trouble [VIDEO].
Morgan is diminutive compared to most baseball people, who tend to be large, and doesn’t throw extremely hard, but he hits his spots pretty well and isn’t fazed by adversity. He could very well throw good innings as a Cubs reliever — projections have him also around 3-2, which would take the team record to 82-69, closing in on the minimum 85 that we’ve penciled in as a possible playoff win total.
ESPN notes the numbers behind the trade [VIDEO].
He has a lifetime ERA of 3.97, 18-12 W/L record, and 262 strikeouts in those 265 innings. Not so terrible. Good insurance, just in case. North Side Baseball called him a medium-leverage reliever. Sara Sanchez had some good words for him.
Thanks for reading. Sorry about the headache.