Marlins GM Kim Ng shares details on Jake Burger trade with White Sox

Before becoming the first woman and first person of East Asian descent to serve as an MLB general manager, Ng got her professional career started in the sport when she took a baseball operations internship with the White Sox in 1990. A year later, she was hired full-time and continued to climb the ladder of multiple positions within the organization.

Under General Manager Ron Schueler, Ng was named the Assistant Director of Baseball Operations in 1995 and became the youngest person, and the first woman, to present a salary arbitration case in Major League Baseball. The story from there writes itself, as Ng has continued to make advances in several other prominent positions elsewhere before landing in Miami.

Naturally, as the above clip began circulating on social media, White Sox fans began wondering why Ng was interacting with Williams and not GM Rick Hahn when making this trade. Aside from the pre-existing relationship between two former co-workers, which certainly provided a good starting point, it seems fair to speculate that Hahn was working on the additional trades that went down on Tuesday. If this was the case, then it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to infer that he may have delegated some of the work while trying to finalize these other moves on the side.

Based on what we know about this organization and how the front office has functioned prior, it seems Williams and Hahn do a lot of decision-making together anyways. Therefore, it’s hard to turn this into a question of leadership or trust solely off the rather brief comments made by Ng. Doing so would blow this situation out of proportion.

In the Burger trade, despite losing a fan-favorite slugger, the White Sox received left-handed pitching prospect Jake Eder in return. The 24-year-old southpaw entered the season coming off Tommy John surgery and has spent time with the Marlins Double-A affiliate. He was ranked as the second overall prospect in the Marlins’ system, per Baseball America, with the following review:

“Before the surgery, Eder showed a dynamic two-pitch mix fronted by a one-two punch of a low-to-mid-90s fastball and slider which each project as plus. His fastball had the type of riding life at the top of the strike zone that is coveted today. Eder also showed a strong feel to lengthen and shorten the break on his slider, with the former version looking like a harder curveball. Eder’s third pitch, a low-80s changeup, had a ceiling as an average offering with further refinement. A small tweak in the way Eder removed the ball from his glove at the beginning of his delivery helped improve his command and control, which projected as plus before the operation. He is a dedicated student of the game who keeps a journal of what worked and didn’t work during each of his starts.”

– Baseball America

On the season, Eder has a 3.94 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate and a 12.9% walk rate over 29.2 innings thrown. Before his injury, as a 22-year-old in Double-A in 2021, Eder had a 1.77 ERA in 71.1 innings – certainly an impressive feat for someone his age. He has been assigned to the Birmingham Barons, though hasn’t yet made his organizational debut.

Eder is certainly an intriguing return and someone who could absolutely be up in the major leagues in the near future. We will continue to monitor his progress closely this season and the ones to come.