Eli

Morgan

Morgan had a solid first month of the MLB season, but he has struggled since being recalled from the minors for a second time. He now has a 5.51 ERA in 16 1/3 innings for the Royals this season. He’ll take some time in the minors to try to right the ship.

Morgan has been brought back to the big leagues to fortify Kansas City’s bullpen with starter Kris Bubic (elbow) hitting the injured list. The 30-year-old compiled a strong 2.61 ERA across 10 1/3 innings over seven appearances during a brief stint with the Royals last month.

Morgan has pitched solidly in 2026 with a 2.61 ERA, but the Royals will go with a fresh arm and bring up Luinder Avila to take his place in the bullpen.

Morgan heads back to the minors ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the Athletics after posting a solid 2.61 ERA and 9/6 K/BB ratio across 10 1/3 innings over seven appearances. The 29-year-old righty figures to be back at some point in a couple weeks.

Morgan pitched three scoreless innings for a bullpen-saving save in his Royals debut on Saturday. He’ll return to give the pen a fresh arm through the weekend.

Morgan was the Royals’ 27th man in the doubleheader, so he’ll be going right back to Triple-A. Given his showing tonight, though, he might not stay there long. Morgan struck out five and allowed just one hit.

The Royals will keep Morgan after signing him to a minor league deal at the end of January, but it won’t be as a major leaguer initially. The former Guardians reliever allowed just one run and struck out 12 in 10 1/3 innings this spring.

Another veteran reliever for a team that just signed Héctor Neris. Morgan, 29, missed most of last season with elbow troubles, though not before he gave up 10 runs in 7 1/3 innings for the Cubs in April. He was much more successful in Cleveland the previous three seasons, posting a 3.27 ERA and a 181/48 K/BB in 176 innings.

After being acquired from the Guardians at the tender deadline last winter, Morgan went on to miss most of 2025 with elbow problems, and he gave up 10 runs in 7 1/3 innings during his brief time in the majors. In moving on from Morgan and Andrew Kittredge, the Cubs don’t have a single true reliever due to make over $1 million next season (Javier Assad, who might wind up in the pen if he fails to win a rotation spot, will probably make about $2 million).

The 29-year-old hurler has been shelved since mid-April due to a right elbow impingement. Before landing on the injured list he had posted a troublesome 12.27 ERA, 2.05 WHIP and a 4/3 K/BB ratio over 7 1/3 innings in his seven appearances. He’ll stay sharp at the Triple-A level in case he’s called upon over the final week of the regular season.