White Sox add Eloy Jimenez, four others to 40-man roster

Eloy Jimenez

The White Sox on Monday added five prospects to their 40-man roster ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft.

Among them, of course, is Eloy Jimenez, the prized outfield prospect the Sox acquired in the Jose Quintana deal. The other four additions are first baseman Casey Gillaspie, pitcher Ian Clarkin and outfielders Micker Adolfo and Luis Alexander Basabe.

To make room on the roster, the Sox outrighted right-handed pitchers Chris Beck and Tyler Danish.

I say good riddance to Beck. I'm not a fan; he always reminded me of Mike MacDougal, and he had the 6.40 ERA over 65 innings with the Sox in 2017 to prove it. I won't rehash why I can't stand Beck, because I've made those points before, so I might as well just provide a link.

Danish struggled as a starter in Triple-A Charlotte this year, and he was in a car crash right at the end of the season that injured his non-throwing shoulder. He seems to be slipping down the organizational depth chart more and more with each passing day.

The Sox's roster is now at 39 players. It's a little bit surprising that neither left-handed pitcher Jordan Guerrero nor infield Jake Peter were added to the roster. Both are midtier prospects that are close to major-league ready, and both could be enticing to teams looking to raid some of the Sox's organizational depth in the Rule 5 draft.

White Sox trade reliever Dan Jennings to Rays

Dan Jennings

There is only one relief pitcher remaining with the team from the White Sox Opening Day roster after left-hander Dan Jennings was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday in exchange for Triple-A first baseman Casey Gillaspie.

Yes, Gillaspie is the younger brother of former Sox third baseman Conor Gillaspie.

Casey Gillaspie, a 24-year-old switch-hitter, began the season ranked as the No. 74 prospect in the game, according to Baseball America. He was a Midwest League All-Star in 2015 and a Southern League All-Star in 2016, but he has fallen on hard times this season at Triple-A Durham.

Gillaspie has slumped to a .227/.296/.357 slash line with nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 95 games for Durham. The struggles are a little bit surprising because Gillaspie hit .307 in 47 Triple-A games after being promoted to Durham late in the 2016 season. That's how he got that respectable ranking on the prospects list.

Is the slump this year an anomaly? Possibly. Gillaspie had hit at every level until this year, so we can't count out the possibility that he'll regain his form. He's a former first-round draft pick, so he's obviously got some talent.

And, really, it's not a bad gamble for the Sox, who are parting with a league-average reliever in Jennings. The left-hander is 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA in 48 appearances this season, and he's certainly a respectable bullpen arm. However, Jennings doesn't have much value on the roster to the Sox, who are obviously on their way to finishing well up the track.

Do you really need decent-to-good bullpen arms when there are so few leads to protect? Not really.

For the record, Jake Petricka is the last man standing from the Opening Day bullpen. He's often injured, and thus has little value in a trade. That's probably the one thing that's keeping him in Chicago.