The Chicago Cubs have made an addition to their bullpen, reportedly buying pitcher Eli Morgan from the Cleveland Guardians.
In keeping with ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Cubs will convey within the right-handed pitcher to bolster a bullpen that went via loads of ups and downs final season.
It was not instantly recognized which gamers can be heading again to Cleveland within the swap.
To clear an area on the 40-man roster, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers experiences the Cubs will designate infielder Patrick Knowledge for task.
Morgan appeared in 32 video games for the Guardians final season, with a 3-0 report and a 1.93 ERA in 42 innings pitched. He has a profession ERA of three.97 in 161 video games, together with 19 begins. He has completely been used as a reliever within the final two seasons, discovering his type out of the bullpen for Cleveland.
Morgan doesn’t have an overwhelming fastball, averaging 92.2 miles per hour final season, however hitters had a tricky time with it final season, with a .176 batting common in opposition to the pitch, in response to Statcast. His changeup has been even higher the final two seasons, with a weighted on-base share of .223 and a 23.7% whiff charge.
In accordance to Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami, his changeup is the 13th-best in baseball by way of pitch worth.
The Cubs’ bullpen final season ranked twelfth in MLB in ERA at 3.81 however struggled to maintain runners off-base, with the league’s Nineteenth-best WHIP. They will be aiming so as to add increased leverage arms this offseason to maintain tempo with the division-leading Brewers, who had the second-best bullpen ERA and third-best bullpen WHIP in baseball final season.
Knowledge discovered himself relegated to bench responsibility within the 2024 season for the Cubs, with eight house runs and 23 RBI’s in 158 at-bats. He slashed .171/.237/.392 on the season, and struck out 59 occasions for the Cubs.
Designating Knowledge for task will go away the Cubs’ 40-man roster at precisely 40 gamers.