The Chicago Cubs created more space on their 40-man roster as backup catcher Reese McGuire and right-handed relief pitcher Eli Morgan were non-tendered on Friday. McGuire ended up being a solid acquisition by the team and did well in his role, filling in for the injured Miguel Amaya in 2025. He served his purpose and now McGuire may look for a guaranteed deal this offseason, while the Cubs will look to sign a backup/veteran catcher to a minor league deal.
Meanwhile, Morgan is gone and if he doesn't return to the organization, then his addition to the team last year will go down as one of Jed Hoyer's worst trades with the Cubs. This is not about what the Cleveland Guardians got from the Cubs because although outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario put up decent numbers at Double-A, the main objective by the Cubs was to get a low-cost, effective reliever and they failed miserably.
Morgan appeared in a total of seven games for the Cubs in 2025, and was then sidelined for most of the year with an elbow injury. The righty allowed 10 earned runs in 7.1 innings, a 12.27 ERA. Morgan's last appearance with the Cubs came in a 10-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on April 14, 2025. He faced six batters and gave up four runs. Ouch.
Now, you could say that maybe there was some bad luck with the injury, but that's where Morgan's history comes into play because it's not like there weren't concerns at the time of the trade. I mean, it was kind of odd that the Guardians had no problem trading away Morgan, who at that point posted a 3.23 ERA from 2022-24, had multiple years of team control and minor league options to the Cubs for a prospect that is still years away from potentially reaching the majors.
Morgan was limited to only 32 games with the Guardians in 2024, as the right-handed reliever was on the injured list a few times throughout the season and was also optioned to Triple-A at one point. It makes you think that Cleveland had a pretty good idea that Morgan might have been damaged goods when they traded him to the Cubs, who got pretty much nothing from Morgan.
Simply put, an awful trade by the Cubs and Hoyer. Also, Carter Hawkins, the Cubs GM, worked for 10+ years in Cleveland's organization before he came over to Chicago in 2021, how about some better intel huh?
