Royals retain key veteran bullpen arm amidst slew of Opening Day roster decisions

When Opening Day rosters are announced there's usually three things that fans look for. First and foremost, who made the roster is at the top of everyone's minds. It's then probably followed by who will start the year on shelf as well as determining who got snubbed.

What can sometimes get lost in the mix are names added to the 40-man roster, but just not the major league roster.

The Royals had one of those instances this time around when they selected the contract of spring training non-roster invitee Eli Morgan and subsequently took advantage of the fact he had options remaining and sent him to Triple-A Omaha.

While there may've been other non-roster invitees that Royals fans wanted to see added to make the cut or at the very least given the same treatment as Morgan, there's no denying that Morgan is a worthwhile addition to KC's 40-man.

Royals' bullpen depth got that much stronger after the permanent addition of Eli Morgan

Morgan was one of the more pleasant standouts of the numerous veteran names that the Royals gave a chance at big league redemption to with an invite to spring camp.

In 10.1 innings pitched across nine Cactus League outings, the 29-year-old righty threw to a shimmering 0.87 ERA along with a strong 2.49 FIP, 1.06 WHIP and .189 BAA.

He also looked to be at the peak of his swing-and-miss powers, similar to when he was a 10.08 K/9 arm in the Cleveland Guardians' bullpen back in 2023. This spring he was sporting a 10.45 K/9.

Perhaps after his lengthy stay on the IL with the Cubs last season and considering how poor he looked when he was able to take the mound for them, maybe it's not the worst plan in the world to allow him to really get some more lower pressure reps in before throwing him into the major league fire again - even if he could be argued over un-optionable names like Alex Lange or Bailey Falter.

However, if the Royals learned anything last season and even in their Opening Day injury report this year, it's that pitching can be fickle sometimes, especially in the bullpen, whether that be because of injury or sheer underwhelming performance.

Morgan joins the likes of Steven Cruz and Luinder Avila as more MLB ready names in Omaha who could join the Royals relief corps at a moment's notice.

From Cubs castoff to the Royals' newest member of the 40-man roster. It's safe to say that this under-the-radar offseason union has resulted in the best possible case scenario for both parties.