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One thing about following a team that I learned at a young age is you will probably see your favorite players traded. I was heart broken as a kid when my favorite, the guy in my avatar, was traded to the Mets. Always a Cardinal fan, but I would check out what my favorite former Cardinals did as well.
Whitey dealt all sorts of favorites in the ‘80s. Ted Simmons was my favorite Cardinal in the ‘70s and he was traded, then Hernandez, Clark left in free agency, Van Slyke etc.
Big RBI base hit from Siani, but why isn’t it 6-4? Should have forced the action on that bases jammed single to RF.
I like this trade a lot. While I like Edman probably more than many would realize, he’s not as cheap as he once was and he hasn’t played at all this year. The fact that he brought back a usable starting pitcher for this year and next is a little surprising, really. Throw in a right handed bat and I think it’s a winning trade. Edman will have a shot to win a title and we should be set up a little better to make it to October, plus have a mid rotation guy for next year. Hopefully they can drop Lynn and maybe find a better starter and the rotation may look pretty solid: Gray-FA/Trade-Fedde-Gibson-Mikolas.
Here are some comments from national sports writers which I pulled from the P-D.
Bradford Doolittle, ESPN.com. A:
As much as I love Edman, the Cardinals are well situated to do without him. Masyn Winn is a star in the making at shortstop, veterans Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt hold down the corners and Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman and prospects such as Thomas Saggese give them coverage in the short and long term.
Meanwhile, Fedde is an impactful upgrade to the rotation for the rest of this season and beyond. St. Louis has had to get creative beyond the core four of Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. Andre Pallante has been solid lately, but he has the versatility to hold down a multi-inning role and make an impact out of the bullpen.
Getting Pham — who at one time was blocked as a prospect in a deep Cardinals system, causing him to debut in the majors later than he might have for another team — is a delightful, full-circle move. The Cardinals needed another righty bat for the outfield, so he has a clear role. And if St. Louis makes the postseason, they will be very glad Pham is around.
Finally, in terms of cash, the Cardinals actually come out about even, given that Edman earns more through next season than Fedde and Pham is in a walk year. All this and St. Louis didn’t give up a near-ready prospect, which frankly is kind of stunning.
R.J. Anderson, CBSSports.com, A:
Fedde, 31, has been one of the most pleasant individual-level stories of the season. His return from South Korea has played out better than could have been reasonably expected: in 21 starts, he’s amassed a 3.11 ERA (133 ERA+) and a 3.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio. If you go off FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement model, Fedde has been roughly as productive as Corbin Burnes. Imagine predicting that to someone this time last year.
Fedde also happens to be one of the most Cardinals-coded pitchers available; it’s like they smashed Gibson and Lynn together then gave him Miles Mikolas ‘ overseas epiphany backstory. He pounds the zone with a broad arsenal that’s fronted by a 90-mph cutter and a 93-mph sinker. His best pitch is a sweeping slider that has held opponents to a .167 average and a 27.9% whiff rate. Might the Cardinals ask him to throw that pitch more often? We’ll find out soon enough. Fedde is probably not going to continue to perform this well, but he ought to fall somewhere on the mid-rotation starter spectrum.
Pham, 36, was assured a spot in a deadline trade from the moment he signed with the White Sox back in mid-April. He still minds the zone and can put a charge into the ball, though he’s best when deployed specifically against lefties. That ought to be no problem for the Cardinals, who can use him in place of either Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, or Lars Nootbaar. (If the Cardinals wanted to get really adventurous, they could even give him a little burn in center field — we just wouldn’t advise as much.)
For the cherry on top: Fedde is locked in through next year at a modest $7.5 million (or a few million less than Edman’s commitment). That’s a nice piece of business for a team whose ownership group seems unwilling to give them money for a bigger addition.
Brittany Ghiroli, The Athletic, A-minus:
I see virtually no downside here from the Cardinals’ perspective. Fedde has been on the Cardinals’ radar for quite a while and his ascent from someone who couldn’t get a big-league job to being a hot commodity coming out of the KBO has been impressive. Fedde has been a revelation with Chicago and while he isn’t going to wow you with his stuff he’s a reliable starter and gives St. Louis exactly what it wanted: rotation depth without taking on significant extra salary. Fedde signed a two-year, $15 million contract before the 2024 season, and is owed $7.5 million in 2025.
Pham figures to platoon against left-handed starters and both additions make the Cardinals a better team on paper than they were this morning. Shedding Edman’s salary helps cover for Fedde and while the Dodgers desperately need Edman’s versatility to plug some infield holes (Edman can also play outfield), St. Louis had a trio of other options in Michael Siani, Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson.
Bob Nightengale, USA Today: “This is the fifth time Pham has been traded, and the third time Cardinals special assistant Chaim Bloom has acquired him. Bloom traded for Pham as the GM with the Red Sox in 2022 and as vice president of the Rays in 2018.”
Jay Jaffe, FanGraphs: “Pham isn’t hitting the ball as hard as usual. His 90.5 mph average exit velocity, which places him in the 75th percentile, is nonetheless down 1.6 mph from last year, when he was in the 93rd percentile, and both his 7.2% barrel rate and 39.9% hard-hit rate are in the 40s, percentile-wise; last year, they were in the 69th and 89th percentiles, respectively. He’s still an effective lefty-masher, with a 141 wRC+ in 61 PA against southpaws this year, and a 118 in 392 PA since the start of 2022, compared to a 93 wRC+ (in 1,008 PA) against righties. Dreadful defense (-13 DRS, -6 FRV, and -2.5 UZR, all in 570.2 innings spread across the three outfield positions) has offset the modest value of his offense. He’s got no business in center field, (but) there is at least a natural platoon fit. In Edman’s absence, rookie Victor Scott II started the year in center but went just 5-for-59 before being sent down. Michael Siani, a lefty-swinging 25-year-old rookie, has done the bulk of the work since, hitting a meek .245/.284/.319 (73 wRC+) but playing stellar defense (12 FRV, 8 DRS, 6.1 UZR including his brief time at both outfield corners). He’s hit for a 44 wRC+ in 80 PA against lefties, so letting Pham take some starts there may not be the worst thing, defense be damned.”
Andy McCullough, The Athletic: “Pham is most productive as a platoon player. He can wallop left-handed pitching. It will be interesting to see the perspective he brings about his return to St. Louis. He was unhappy with his treatment by the organization before being traded to Tampa Bay in 2018.”
Craig Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus: “St. Louis would probably still like to move on from Mikolas in the rotation, but it’s unclear what their appetite is for additional moves, and he is owed $16 million in 2025 regardless. Hard to imagine they’ll just cut bait at this juncture. Still, acquiring Fedde will feel like a dramatic upgrade to the current rotation and absolutely fits as a playoff starter should they make it—and arguably should slot second behind Sonny Gray. While Edman is an organizational loss, the fact that they’ve made it this far without him should make it feel relatively painless, at least at the surface. Well, at least until you look at Mike Siani’s slash line.”
2024 AL Pitching WAR Leaders
Tarik Skubal (5.3)
Erick Fedde (4.7)
Tyler Anderson (4.6)
Seth Lugo (4.2)All Leaders: https://t.co/moXSTTYNyO pic.twitter.com/EnmWTWmAoO
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) July 30, 2024
This move might not get us to post season, and might not work at all. But sitting here at the end of July and looking at what the principals in the deal have done so far this year it makes a lot of sense.
For the cardinals ownership this is a winning move. Fedde checks all the boxes fora good move for a expendable bat or at least the cardinals msnagement thinks hes expendable. Going by what he got paid during offseason, feddes numbers could be misleading so there is some risk it wont help the cardinals get to the post season. Pham i dont think is worth a good skipping stone but thats just my opinion. I expect carlson to be gone soon. Wasnt the biggest fan but i wont be surprised if some other team can actually help him. The cardinals only really rely on luck far as player development.
We aren’t inside the clubhouse, but it looked to me like there’s blame to go around. Good luck to Dylan.
You wonder why a fair number of highly skilled guys don’t succeed for St. Louis. But then there are some successes like Donovan and Burleson. Just really hard to know how a young player will mature.
I look forward to seeing how Carlson fairs in Tampa. That has been a good place for young hitters to get a chance to play every day and find their groove.
How long before Tommy Edman has 4 rbi for the Dodgers? I wasn’t a fan of Tommy Pham, but I am a fan of grand slams. Now say that 5 times real fast.
If Carlson figures out how to stay healthy he may do ok. If they play him everyday, I say there is a good chance he ends up on the IL, and somebody else takes his job.
MLB.com ranked the deadline deals and put us at number 1 on list. Sorry GC, but this was a deal we had to make. Perhaps it will bust, but it just looks too good on paper to pass up. The sun will shine again and the Cardinals will live on post-Edman. Always disappointing when your favorite player is sent away, but it happens to most everyone. Rare for a player to stay with one team for a career these days.
No doubt about it. Elite is elite. Not as sure that applies to Edman, who is obviously a very good player, but it is one of those terms you can mold as needed, I guess.
Edman has one Gold Glove and no All-Star berths in five years. No offense to him, but defensively, he was the second-best shortstop and second best center fielder on the Cardinals. His career 99 OPS+ is the definition of MLB average offensively. Because of his speed and switch hitting, he was tried at leadoff several times over the years, but was lacking in OBP, so was dropped back down to the bottom third. He was getting more injury prone and more expensive, hence, he became expendable.
He will be missed, especially his versatility, but you have to trade quality to get quality.
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