{"id":90047,"date":"2024-11-20T15:52:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=90047"},"modified":"2024-11-20T15:52:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:52:53","slug":"eli-morgan-cubs-guardians-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/20\/eli-morgan-cubs-guardians-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Swing Trade with AL Central Club, Add Pitching Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>Chicago <\/span>Cubs <\/span>bolstered <\/span>their <\/span>bullpen <\/span>on Wednesday. ESPN’s Jeff Passan<\/a> reports that the Cubs will<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>acquire <\/span>reliever Eli Morgan<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>from <\/span>the <\/span>Cleveland <\/span>Guardians. <\/span>In <\/span>exchange, <\/span>the <\/span>Cubs <\/span>parted <\/span>with <\/span>their <\/span>21st-ranked <\/span>prospect, <\/span>outfielder <\/span>Ismael <\/span>Mena <\/span>was <\/span>not <\/span>involved <\/span>in <\/span>this <\/span>deal <\/span>however <\/span>Alfonsin <\/span>Rosario <\/span>was, <\/span>to <\/span>complete <\/span>the <\/span>trade. To clear roster space for Morgan, the Cubs designated third baseman<\/a> Patrick Wisdom<\/a> for assignment. This move injects a high-quality late-inning arm into the Cubs’ bullpen, bolstering their relief corps ahead of the 2025 season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cubs Acquire Eli Morgan, DFA Patrick Wisdom<\/h2>\n

Morgan, a 28-year-old right-hander, was drafted by the Cleveland Guardians in the eighth round (252nd overall) of the 2017 MLB Draft. After spending his entire professional career with the Guardians, Morgan enjoyed a breakout season in 2024. He posted a stellar 3-0 record, 1.93 ERA, and a minuscule 0.98 WHIP in 32 appearances. Although he missed time due to right elbow inflammation, Morgan played a crucial role in anchoring MLB’s top-ranked bullpen.<\/p>\n

Morgan’s <\/span>four-year <\/span>MLB <\/span>career <\/span>has <\/span>yielded <\/span>impressive <\/span>results: <\/span>an <\/span>18-12 <\/span>record, <\/span>3.97 <\/span>ERA, <\/span>21 <\/span>holds, <\/span>1.16 <\/span>WHIP, <\/span>and <\/span>262 <\/span>strikeouts <\/span>in <\/span>265.1 <\/span>innings. <\/span>Notably, <\/span>the <\/span>majority <\/span>of <\/span>his <\/span>innings <\/span>have <\/span>come <\/span>in <\/span>relief, <\/span>where <\/span>he <\/span>has <\/span>maintained <\/span>a <\/span>strong <\/span>4:1 <\/span>strikeout-to-walk <\/span>ratio. Morgan’s arsenal features a 92.2 mph 4-seam fastball with sufficient arm-side run to induce a higher-than-average pop-up rate. He complements this with a hard slider (88 mph) and a slower variant (82 mph). Morgan’s slider and changeup (previously the lowest velocity in MLB in 2021 at 75.3 mph) serve as his primary strikeout pitches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morgan’s exceptional control and ability to perform in both late-inning and long-relief appearances have made him a valuable asset. Despite limited appearances in 2024, Morgan ranked above-average to great in key metrics such as Run Value, xBA, Average Exit Velocity (85 mph), and Chase Rate.<\/p>\n

As an arbitration-eligible player in 2026, Morgan remains under club control through the 2028 season. Currently ranked 27th among MLB relievers with a market value of $4.7 million, Morgan’s $945,000 salary for 2025 represents a bargain for the Cubs, who are acquiring a high-quality relief pitcher at a fraction of his worth.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: \u00a9 Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs bolstered their bullpen on Wednesday. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Cubs will\u00a0acquire reliever Eli Morgan\u00a0from the Cleveland Guardians. In exchange, the Cubs parted with their 21st-ranked prospect, outfielder Ismael Mena was not involved in this deal however Alfonsin Rosario was, to complete the trade. To clear roster space for Morgan, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5158,"featured_media":90064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1071,35],"tags":[5042,5747,5189],"class_list":["post-90047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-mlb","category-news","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-eli-morgan","tag-patrick-wisdom"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}