Reliever Eli Morgan Expected to Hit IL After Pitching Through Elbow Issues
Another day, another Cubs pitcher down after pitching through elbow issues. Righty changeup specialist Eli Morgan was acquired from the Guardians in exchange for Low-A outfielder Alfonsin Rosario back in November after a season in which he posted a 1.93 ERA across 42 innings in 32 appearances. The compact reliever did a tremendous job avoiding barrels and hard contact, limiting opponents to just four homers despite allowing a lot of fly balls.
That success hasn’t carried over to Chicago, where Morgan has already allowed three homers after serving up back-to-back jobs to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez in Monday night’s implosion. Morgan initially came on in the 7th inning to replace Nate Pearson and got out of a jam with two outs on just five pitches. Before we get back to Morgan, we have to discuss Pearson’s outing and overall performance.
Entering the game with the score tied 3-3 in the 7th, the hard-throwing righty walked Tatis before giving up a double to Arraez to put two men in scoring position. Craig Counsell opted to intentionally walk Manny Machado, then Pearson uncorked a wild pitch that allowed a run to score while the other runners advanced. Gavin Sheets singled home two more and Xander Bogaerts walked before Pearson mercifully coaxed a groundout that once again left two men in scoring position.
His night ended after 20 pitches, only eight of which went for strikes, with an ERA that now sits at 10.38 through eight appearances. Pearson’s fastball averages 98 mph, putting him in the 96th percentile for velo, but it draws too much contact and is offset by a slider that gets very few chases. His 16.2% whiff rate ranks in the fifth percentile and his 10.6% strikeout rate is in the sixth. At the risk of making a clunky and unfair comparison for the sake of context, Kyle Hendricks is better this year in both categories.
Anywho, back to Morgan, who went back out for the 8th after his Houdini act. He walked leadoff hitter Elias Diaz on five pitches, then left a fastball up for a two-run Tatis tater. Arraez was then able to turn on a full-count fastball well in on his hands for a homer of his own before Morgan surrendered a single to Machado. That’s when Counsell came to the mound with a trainer and removed his reliever, later revealing that Morgan had been dealing with elbow issues.
I’m sorry, what? Performance issues aside, it’s malpractice to have him out there at all if he’s feeling something. I get that these guys will often hide things because young relievers in particular can see their careers vanish in no time if they can’t pitch, but this strikes me as a big red flag for Counsell. Maybe I’m just smarting from the Cubs having lost Justin Steele to a blown elbow after he pitched through discomfort in his last start.
Bad games are going to happen, it’s just a fact of life in baseball. But when you have one of the worst bullpens in the game from a statistical standpoint, you leave yourself vulnerable to a lot more bad than should otherwise be expected. Cubs relievers have the third-lowest strikeout rate and seventh-highest walk rate and are among the five worst teams in ERA (5.23), xFIP (4.82), and SIERA (4.48).
Counsell can only work with the players he’s got, which is further dictated by availability, and those matters just got a little more complicated last night. Morgan is presumably headed to the IL for what is likely to be more than a minimum stay, and Pearson probably needs to be optioned to Iowa to figure some things out. Colin Rea was only able to go 3.2 innings as Steele’s replacement, so the ‘pen was already taxed before Monday’s debacle.
If you’ve got sensitive ears or you work for PETA or the ASPCA, you might want to avert your eyes whilst I lambast yet another expired equine. This whole mess was completely avoidable had Jed Hoyer seen fit to spend a little more on the bullpen, which might have been easier to do had Tom Ricketts and Crane Kenney allocated more than 36.4% of last year’s revenue on this year’s payroll.
To be fair, the bullpen looked better on paper as it was being assembled. But paper is only guaranteed to beat rock, and the Cubs have found themselves sliced to ribbons by several pairs of scissors already. Imagine if they had Tanner Scott at the back end, which would have been possible if the front office hadn’t been so reluctant to up its offer. Don’t like paying a reliever big money for four years? Kirby Yates is on a one-year, $13 million deal with the Dodgers and he’s struck out 15 batters in just 8.1 innings.
David Robertson is still out there, but the Cubs and all 29 other teams have balked at his reported $10 million asking price. Such a deal would take a big, wet bite out of Hoyer’s war chest for midseason acquisitions and there’s plenty of risk in counting on a 40-year-old who didn’t have a spring training. But how many other options do the Cubs have? Assuming they need to replace two relievers immediately, Hoyer is going to have to get to work before they return to Wrigley for a weekend series against the Diamondbacks.
Then it’s…you’re kidding me. The Dodgers again?! F this.
