Chicago Cubs make moves on 2 right-handed veteran relief pitchers

With the U.S. Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs set to get underway Thursday night at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks, two more pitching moves were made by the front office. Brad Keller making a push for a spot on the Opening Day roster made things much more difficult to set the bullpen in stone.

Relief pitching was the part of the 2024 Cubs that struggled the most and it was a major reason why the organization finished with 83 wins for the second straight season. A major goal of the offseason for general manager Jed Hoyer was to address the back end of the stable. He did so by acquiring closer Ryan Pressly in a trade with the Astros and Ryan Brasier in a deal with the Dodgers.

While the bigger spots in the Chicago bullpen are taken care of, decision for the middle innings needed to be made and they feature another trade acquisition from the offseason returning to the big leagues.

Chicago Cubs DFA Cody Poteet

Cody Poteet was acquired in the Cody Bellinger deal back in December with the New York Yankees. He couldn’t crack the big league roster and was officially DFA’d on Thursday. Poteet only threw in two games this spring for the Cubs and did not fare well in his 3.1 innings tossed. The 30-year-old made one start as an opener and finished the spring with a 10.80 ERA. He allowed four earned runs on the mound and had an abysmal 2.40 WHIP.

Poteet was seen as a guy who have a legitimate shot to compete for a spot in the bullpen to begin the season, but his time on the mound in camp reflects that he was never really close to being in that position. He had a limited sample size of work in the big leagues last year with the Yankees and looked sharp in that stretch.

Poteet finished 2024 with a 3-0 record in 24.1 innings pitched. He made five appearances in total and four starts while having a 2.22 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. There should be another team that will take a chance on Poteet to some extent, but he won’t be throwing in a Cubs uniform this year.

Eli Morgan recalled by the Chicago Cubs from Iowa

Morgan was sent down to Triple-A last week and his stint as a member of the Iowa Cubs did not ask long. He was acquired in a deal with the Guardians in November and was stellar for them in 32 games last year. The right-hander posted a 1.93 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP across 42.0 innings tossed.

The veteran’s bread and butter is his changeup and his extremely effective against left-handed hitters. Chicago bringing him in this offseason can be seen as a replacement for Mark Leiter Jr. who they dealt away to the Yankees at the trade deadline last season.

Morgan pitched in 5.2 innings in Spring Training this year and had a 3.18 ERA to go with his 0.71 WHIP. The Cubs know that he can be a guy that the coaching staff can lean on in the middle innings of games this season as he has proven to be effective in those spots throughout his time in the big leagues.