The St. Louis Cardinals made the fewest offseason moves this past Winter, showing that the front office’s commitment to this current roster is not that strong. Now, with just 10 days before MLB’s trade deadline, the Cardinals have been swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Cincinnati Reds recently passed them in the division. The next 7 days or so will be very revealing with what they do with their roster, but one thing is known about who they may be shipping away.
St. Louis is a couple of games above .500, but with such a strong National League at the moment, it may be unfeasible for them to go on a torrid run down the last two-month stretch of the regular season and pass 5 or 6 teams ahead of them in the Wild Card race.
Cardinals Actively Shopping Erick Fedde
The St Louis Cardinals’ starting rotation, aside from Sonny Gray, has faltered a lot over the past month, and Erick Fedde hasn’t been particularly good for them. Fedde likely won’t carry much value, but he can provide a team with a fifth starter who will take the ball every week and give five to six innings to relieve some tension on the bullpen.
But you never know how guys’ seasons can turn around if they join a new team. Fedde has a 4.83 ERA over 98.2 innings this season. This is his second season with the Cardinals, and after a pretty productive 2024 campaign, 2025 has not been so kind to the eight-year MLB veteran.
Darragh McDonald of MLBtraderumors.com provided some insight on why the Cardinals may move him:
“With the deadline now just over the horizon, thereâs logic to flipping someone to make room for McGreevy, a former first-round pick who is putting up good numbers this year. In 15 Triple-A starts, he has a 3.72 earned run average, 25.5% strikeout rate, 4.9% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate.”
“As mentioned, the Cards appear to be on the border of buying or selling. They attempted to do a reset in the winter but found it difficult to trade their veteran players with no-trade clauses. They decided to mostly stand pat and have hovered in the race this year. They were swept by the Diamondbacks this weekend but are still just 3.5 games back of a playoff spot. If they believe McGreevy is ready for the show, they could flip a starter to add some young talent but still leave the rotation in a decent spot for a stretch run.”
What Could the Cardinals Get in Return?
So, who may be in the market for a guy like Fedde? A couple of teams come to mind that could use Fedde in a stretch run. The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays could all use another right-handed depth starter. Yes, while Fedde’s production has slowed, he is still a big league arm that is better than running out a minor league player.
A return for the St. Louis Cardinals likely wouldn’t be much, probably just a low-level prospect or a bench/depth player. But for the Cardinals, who are expected to “soft sell”, Fedde is the exact type of guy they would move on from in hopes of gaining a young player with positive upside.
And as they head towards August and September, they likely want to give one of their top prospects in Michael McGreevy, as many innings as possible.
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