Chicago White Sox make ‘very difficult decision’ to trade Jake Burger, while also dealing Keynan Middleton at deadline
The Chicago White Sox pulled off a “Burger Bomb” ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, sending hard-hitting infielder Jake Burger to the Miami Marlins.
It was one of three trades the team announced on the day of the deadline.
In return for Burger, who is tied for third in the American League with 25 home runs, the Sox acquired minor-league left-handed pitcher Jake Eder.
“It’s been a long journey with the organization,” Burger said Tuesday at Globe Life Field. “A lot of good memories, a lot of bad memories. I’m grateful to the White Sox organization for believing in me when it didn’t seem like a lot of other people believed in me. Fans believed in me coming back from injury. A lot of good memories here. My son got to see me put on a White Sox jersey.
“But on the flip side of that, I’m going to Miami and I got to make a push for the playoffs in the wild-card hunt.”
The Sox also traded reliever Keynan Middleton to the New York Yankees for minor-league right-handed pitcher Juan Carela and acquired right-handed pitcher Luis Patiño from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for cash considerations.
Burger is slashing .214/.279/.527 with 25 home runs and 52 RBIs in 88 games. He was second on the Sox in home runs, often dubbed “Burger Bombs,” only trailing Luis Robert Jr., who has 29 home runs.
A first-round pick in 2017, Burger has rebounded from injuries to become a fixture. He missed all of 2018 after suffering a ruptured left Achilles tendon and 2019 because of a bruised left heel.
He played in 15 games with the Sox in 2021 and 51 last season. His long-distance home runs were a highlight at Guaranteed Rate Field, where he’s hit 17 of his 25 home runs this season.
“Very difficult decision for all of us here to move Jake,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said during a video conference call Tuesday. “White Sox fans have seen the impact he can have, especially from the power perspective, on a lineup and on a game. And anyone who knows his story, baseball fan or not, has a great deal of empathy and compassion for what he went through and appreciate the fact that he’s back here as a big leaguer accomplishing what he’s accomplished despite the early hardships in his career.
“He’s a tremendous kid, and we’ll miss him. We’ll be rooting for him. At the end of the day, this was a strict baseball deal. In the end, we felt we dealt from a position of relative strength, in terms of right-handed power, and we were able to acquire one of the finer left-handed pitching prospects in the game.”
Eder, 24, was rated by MLB.com as the No. 4 prospect in the Marlins organization. He is 2-3 with a 4.12 ERA and 48 strikeouts in nine combined starts this season with Class A Jupiter and Double-A Pensacola.
Middleton is 2-2 with a 3.96 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 39 appearances.
Signed as a minor-league free agent with the Sox this offseason, Middleton joined the big-league team on April 10 and has been effective when called on.
In return, the White Sox received minor-league right-handed pitcher Juan Carela, the No. 29 prospect in the Yankees organization, as rated by MLB.com. At Class A Hudson Valley this season, Carela was 2-4 with a 3.67 ERA and 109 strikeouts. The 6-foot-3, 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic was the South Atlantic League pitcher of the week for April 23.
“Another fine accomplishment by our scouting department to identify him, (pitching coach) Ethan Katz and the work he did with (Middleton) to help him fulfill that promise that all of us have seen from him over the last several years, and now he’s able to add some consistency to it,” Hahn said. “In Carela, we were able to get a young righty, plus-plus slider, like the curveball and cutter as well.”
Patiño has spent most of this season in Triple-A Durham, where he is 3-4 with a 6.75 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 27 games. He has spent parts of four seasons in the major leagues, including two relief appearances for Tampa Bay this season.
The 23-year-old Colombian was originally signed by the San Diego Padres and was traded to Tampa Bay in the 2020 Blake Snell deal.
“He’s a guy who was once an extremely highly-regarded prospect,” Hahn said. “His performance has been slightly erratic but he still is only 23 years old. We’re going to have the opportunity here over the next few months to learn more about him and see if he can contribute as soon as later this month or perhaps even in ’24 and beyond.”
Tuesday wrapped up a flurry of deals for the Sox, who entered the evening’s game against the Texas Rangers 21 games under .500 (43-64) and in fourth in the AL Central.
In the end, the Sox traded away six big-league pitchers — Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn, Kendall Graveman and Middleton — and Burger, who has played at third, second and first.
“Everything is always a little weird around the trade deadline,” Burger said. “You never know what’s going to happen. A lot of stuff happens really fast.
“Love the South Side fans. Never lose that respect and love for them. It will sit heavy in my heart and my family’s heart. But it’s the business of the game. Now I have to go compete and have some fun with another fan base.”
