Jake Eder, Cristian Mena added to White Sox 40-man-roster

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.

White Sox fans are really mad about Jake Burger trade

Jake Burger

White Sox Twitter is ablaze right now because Jake Burger is playing well for the Miami Marlins.

The Sox traded the popular, slugging third baseman to the Marlins for pitching prospect Jake Eder minutes before the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

It doesn't look so good for the Sox so far, and fans are ready to riot.

Since joining the Marlins, Burger is batting .311/.380/.467 in 12 games (entering Tuesday's play). After the Marlins won his first game in Miami in walk-off fashion, Burger declared that it was "the most fun" he'd had on a baseball field "in a long time."

That statement implies he wasn't having much fun as a member of the Sox, and can you blame him? I don't enjoy watching the team, so I'm not surprised if he didn't enjoy playing for it.

Burger was seen delivering a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, capping a five-run Miami rally in a shocking 8-7 victory over the New York Yankees.

The good times are rollin' for Burger.

And Eder?

He's made two starts at Double-A Birmingham, and his ERA is 16.20. He's given up nine earned runs on eight hits across five innings. 

Yeah, that's bad.

I'm not going to panic about this trade just yet, but I understand the frustration. Eder is still only 24. He was one of the best prospects in baseball two years ago before he had Tommy John surgery, and some of the prospect guys -- notably MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis -- have expressed optimism about this left-handed starter.

As for Burger, I'm not entirely sure what his future holds yet. We know he has power. He's got 26 homers this season -- 25 with the White Sox. As a matter of fact, he's probably going to finish second on the Sox in homers for 2023, even though he'll be playing the remainder of the season with Miami. 

It's worth noting that Burger is a subpar defender, and he was hitting only .214 with a .279 OBP at the time of the trade. The Sox will miss his home runs, for sure, but they won't miss his low on-base percentage. 

Ultimately, over the long haul, I'm in wait-and-see mode with this trade. In the short run, here's what pisses me off about the Burger move: It means Yoan Moncada is still "on scholarship" at third base for the White Sox.

Entering Tuesday's play, Moncada was batting .229/.278/.353 with only four homers and 11 doubles in 55 games. He's been hurt and bad (again) this season.

Burger's presence on the roster gave the Sox a very viable alternative to put at third base during those periods when Moncada is hurt, bad or both -- that's the case the majority of the time, as Sox fans know.

Now, Burger is gone, and there's nobody who can play third base except for Moncada. It's Moncada's job through 2024, for better or for worse, and that annoys me because I'm ready to see the Sox move in a different direction at that position.