The White Sox on Tuesday added pitchers Jake Eder and Cristian Mena to their 40-man roster. The move prevents the two from possibly being selected by another team in the Rule 5 draft.
Eder, 24, is the left-hander the Sox acquired at the trade deadline from the Miami Marlins in exchange for third baseman Jake Burger. Since joining the organization, Eder has struggled.
He made five starts at Double-A Birmingham, going 0-3 with an 11.25 ERA. After a reset at the Sox's pitching lab, Eder was assigned to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. His results were marginally improved over six apperances, five of them starts. His ERA was 6.71, but he struck out 16 batters over 17.2 innings.
Eder is currently ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Sox organization.
Mena, 20, made 23 starts at Double-A Birmingham this season before being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, where he started four games. Across those 27 appearances, he went 8-7 with a 4.85 ERA. He led all Sox minor league pitchers with 156 strikeouts and 133.2 innings pitched. Those 27 starts were also an organization high.
The right-hander is currently the No. 10 prospect in the organization.
Neither of these two players is ready to pitch in the majors right now. It's reasonable to believe both will be members of the Charlotte rotation when the 2024 season starts.
It seems unlikely that either would have been selected in the Rule 5 draft, but from the Sox perspective, why take the risk? They have the space on the 40-man roster, and typically, pitchers are more vulnerable to being plucked in the Rule 5 draft -- especially by rebuilding teams. In fact, that's a strategy the rebuilding Sox should consider.
The 40-man roster now has 37 players.
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