The Chicago Cubs had a hot streak halted on Monday night with a dominant loss against the San Diego Padres to open the series out West after entering the game having won nine of their previous 12 games.
All season long, the weakest portion of the roster has been seen as the bullpen, though the unit had been performing relatively well in the last week and a half or so headed to San Diego, giving fans confidence it may be better than initially suspected.
However, the 10-4 loss to the Padres on Monday was a complete meltdown after what was arguably Jameson Taillon's best start of the year.
The worst performance of the night came from someone who has struggled all season long in trade acquisition from the Cleveland Guardians in right-hander Eli Morgan.
Morgan allowed four earned runs on just three hits in 0.2 innings including a moonshot home run to Fernando Tatís Jr. in the bottom of the eighth to effectively put the game out of reach.
Morgan's latest drubbing brought his ERA for the season to a brutal 12.27 and a WHIP of 2.045.
According to a report after the game from Taylor McGregor of Marquee Sports Network however, manager Craig Counsell told the media that Morgan has been dealing with issues in his throwing elbow and McGregor stated a roster move with Morgan going to the injured list is expected on Tuesday.
Whether or not that is actually accurate from Counsell rather than a brief stint on the bench in order to try to get Morgan's head right is a question worth asking however.
In his last three appearances prior to Monday, Morgan had actually started to perform better, throwing three hitless innings and walking just one, inspiring hope he had returned to his form from last season.
The main reason the Cubs wanted to acquire Morgan was how strong his numbers were in Cleveland last season with a 1.93 ERA and 0.976 WHIP over 32 appearances and 42 innings.
In the three years prior to a major breakout in 2024, Morgan had made 129 appearances for the Guardians and had a 4.35 ERA and 1.200 WHIP over 223.1 innings.
While 2024 was obviously a major outlier, the thought upon the time of the trade was Morgan had taken a step forward in his career now at the age of 28 years old.
Though it has not panned out in Chicago just yet, perhaps Morgan can spend a stint on the injured list and get not only his physical health back up to speed but his mentality as well.
If he could return and be an impact reliever, it would go a long way towards raising the ceiling of the bullpen as a whole. For now though, the Cubs are making the right decision should they choose to shelve him for a couple of weeks.
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