11:07am: The two teams have announced the trade. Los Angeles is sending cash back to Washington. Righty Jake Cousins, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, heads to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot.
10:37am: The Dodgers are set to acquire left-hander Jake Eder from the Nationals, according to Spencer Nusbaum and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Eder was designated for assignment this past weekend when Washington acquired infielder Curtis Mead from the White Sox.
A fourth-round pick by the Marlins in 2020, the now-27-year-old Eder was a touted prospect in Miami’s system before requiring Tommy John surgery at the Double-A level. He was flipped from the Marlins to the White Sox in exchange for Jake Burger at the 2023 trade deadline, but things didn’t pan out in Chicago.
Eder only briefly made the majors with the ChiSox, tossing two innings of relief and allowing one run. He was sitting on a 3.94 ERA in 29 2/3 Double-A frames with the Marlins at the time of that swap before being shelled for 22 runs in 17 1/3 innings with the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate in Birmingham. Eder made another 24 starts with Birminham in 2024 but was torched for a 6.61 ERA.
The Sox traded Eder to the Angels for cash one year ago yesterday. He pitched 18 1/3 MLB frames (4.91 ERA, 19.2 K%, 11.5 BB%) before being traded to the Nationals as part of Washington’s return for veteran relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis Garcia. He pitched only seven innings in Washington’s system following that swap. Eder allowed only two earned runs in 6 2/3 spring innings with the Nats (2.70 ERA) but walked six batters in that time.
Eder has typically sat 92-94 mph with his four-seamer and complemented the pitch with a slider and changeup. His slider has graded out well in limited big league time, but opponents have teed off on that changeup, which is part of the reason righties have a .289/.407/.422 line against him in 54 plate appearances. During this spring’s small sample of work, he noticeably ramped up his slider usage and scaled back the frequency of his changeups.
Eder has a minor league option remaining, so the Dodgers don’t have to plug him right onto the big league roster. He can head to Oklahoma City and serve as Triple-A depth. Los Angeles currently has four lefties in its major league bullpen — Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Justin Wrobleski — but Eder can provide some length, should the need arise. Of course, it also shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Dodgers try to quickly run Eder through waivers themselves the next time they need a 40-man roster spot, hoping that they can pass hum through unclaimed and retain him as non-roster depth.
Decent depth add I’d say. More so an OKC Comets move rather than the Dodgers themselves
Not sure what they see in this guy, but unless he was traded for a player on the 40-man, they are forcing a DFA. Either way, somebody goes.
Jake Cousins to the 60 day is my guess on the roster move.
Yes, the two Jakes. Now we know the other side of this move and it won’t cost them a player. But I still don’t get what they see in Eder.
He’s just minor league depth right now, their AAA roster was lacking depth options while some higher ceiling guys recover. I wouldn’t think too hard about it beyond that (or get too attached to him 😉 )
I agree. In about 60-75 days (or less) there’s going to be a significant roster crunch when Edman, Kike, Phillips, Snell, Stewart, and Snell are eligible to return. Perhaps this is a tryout at OKC but if they need a left-handed reliever, they should’ve held onto Banda.
No shortage of leftie relievers in the Dodgers’ pen. He’s depth for the depth, I guess. But yeah, the roster is about to get really interesting.
If the CWS didn’t want him…why would anyone else?
Have you been wearing a fake beard?
It looks like an allergic reaction…
Picking up ex-White Sox and understanding that the White Sox don’t know how to scout and develop is the new moneyball. Take a flyer on the assumption the White Sox muffed it and bet on your own development staff.
They can’t keep getting away with this!!!!
Exactly
April Fool’s?
Dodgers doing Dodger things!
He will have to outperform Cole Irvin to get a chance.