One of Jed Hoyer’s Worst Trades is Getting Worse
Man oh man, this one could end up looking really bad for Jed Hoyer. Last offseason the Chicago Cubs desperately needed to bring in reliever help and while they definitely hit on several of their low-cost free agents they also made a horrific deal for Eli Morgan. To be fair, Morgan was coming off three straight years of being a quality bullpen arm, however there were certainly injury concerns and well, he got hurt in 2025 and pretty much contributed nothing for the Cubs.
Morgan pitched in a total of seven games for the Cubs and the right-handed pitcher was non-tendered following the regular season. He was estimated to earn about $1.1 million in 2026. The Cubs wanted nothing to do with bringing Morgan back and now the 29-year-old has signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals.
It was a miscalculation by the Cubs that is starting to look even worse. Not only did Morgan bring no value, they got rid of him after only one season and now the minor leaguer the Cubs traded to the Cleveland Guardians is beginning to climb up prospect rankings.
Rosario, who turned 21-years-old last June, ended the 2025 season at Double-A in Cleveland’s minor league system. The power-hitting outfielder posted an overall slash line of .251/.345/.461, with a 129 wRC+ in 115 games between High A-Ball and Double-A, respectively. He earned a promotion to Double-A after slugging 16 home runs in 82 games at A-Ball, where Rosario recorded a 139 wRC+ in 354 plate appearances.
In his first look at Double-A Rosario did struggle as he posted a .211/.303/.391, slash line, however, despite those numbers that was still slightly above league average as Rosario turned in a 105 wRC+ in 33 games. That speaks to the hitting environment at that level and you’ll often see the most talented pitcher start to figure out their greatness in Double-A as well.
He’s not a top-100 prospect just yet, but Rosario did receive a specific mention in Kily McDaniel’s latest list on the next 100 best prospects according to McDaniel’s rankings on ESPN. Rosario is ranked 183rd and in McDaniel’s projection, he views the outfielder as a potential slugger who will lead MLB in home runs at his peak.
I’ll always say that in a trade the only thing that should matter is what your side got in the return and how well they performed or not. The trade for Morgan was a disaster. He pitched 7.1 innings and gave up 10 runs and was directly responsible for one ugly loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Morgan got hurt, missed most of the season and was left at Triple-A, leading to the Cubs cutting him after one year. Bad. Awful and now it’s looking worse because Rosario looks like a real prospect.
Hopefully a learning experience for Jed and the rest of the front office.