Tuesday marked the deadline for MLB teams to add players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. The White Sox, with 35 players on the 40-man roster and several players to protect, have made their decisions. The team has added RHP Tanner McDougal and RHP Duncan Davitt to the roster. Among the players notably left off the roster and now eligible to be chosen by another team in the Rule 5 draft are: LHP Shane Murphy, RHP Peyton Pallette, and RHP Mason Adams.
The White Sox have left three valuable prospects unprotected
Murphy’s omission from the roster is perhaps the biggest surprise. The 25 year-old lefty posted an other-worldy 1.66 ERA across three levels in 2025. He ended the year with Triple-A Charlotte and seemed to be a big factor in the White Sox rotation competition this spring. Now, his future in Chicago is unclear. A soft-tossing starter, he’s not the typical profile of player that’s normally selected in Rule 5. Shane Smith’s emergence as a force in a big league rotation was an exception rather than a rule, and most teams tend to pursue relievers with big stuff over contact-dependent starters. Still, Murphy’s results in 2025 are hard to deny, and it’s possible that a team in need of a left-handed starter will take a chance on Murphy.
Mason Adams’ status isn’t a total surprise given his injury status. Adams will be 26 this season and has yet to make his big league debut, but lost his entire 2025 season to Tommy John surgery. He’s not likely to be ready to pitch until midseason, so it’s unlikely that another team will use a Rule 5 pick on a pitcher they won’t have for several months. Most pitchers come back at full strength after Tommy John, but it’s not a guarantee, so it may be too big of a risk for another team to take.
Peyton Pallette, a White Sox second round pick who moved to the bullpen in 2024, was also left unprotected. A first-round talent suffering from an injury at the time of his draft, Pallette returned in 2023, starting 22 games for Low-A Kannapolis, but failed to take a step forward and struggled mightily with control in 2024. After 12 starts, the White Sox made the decision to move Pallette to the bullpen, where he fared much better. Palette was on the radar of White Sox fans as a potential 2025 call-up, but the day never came. He reached Triple-A Charlotte as a 24 year-old and would figure to be involved in the 2026 bullpen mix if he sticks around. He seems like the most likely option to be taken by another team, however, so we’ll see if he gets that chance.
It remains to be seen whether any of these players will be taken in the Rule 5 draft. Any player drafted in Rule 5 must be added to the big league roster and remain there for the entire season. If at any point the team would like to send the player down, they have to first offer him back to the team he was drafted from. The Rule 5 draft will take place on the final day of the Winter Meetings, December 10th. The White Sox will have the second overall selection and will likely take a player from another team. Whether the White Sox will lose anyone is not yet known, but it’s something to watch as the offseason moves along.