Cardinals excuses for the awful Tommy Edman trade are getting ridiculous

The blockbuster three-team trade that shipped switch hitter Tommy Edman from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers may go down in history as one of Andrew Freedman's best moves. The same cannot be said for Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak who made the deal to acquire right-handed starting pitcher Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham from the White Sox. As much as the Cardinals may try to spin this move, it simply has not aged well.

Going into the postseason, nobody expected Edman to become a major factor for the Dodgers, but he is now a big reason why the team sits just two wins away from their eighth World Series title. He was named as the NLCS MVP after a truly fantastic series against the Mets during which he batted at .407 and had a whopping .630 slugging percentage.

On the other hand, the Cardinals are poised to begin a rebuild this offseason after missing the playoffs altogether.

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Dodgers traded for Tommy Edman with hopes of pennant push

Many around the Cardinals organization are trying to make excuses for the trade with the most common one being that Edman would probably not have replicated the success he has found in Los Angeles had he stayed in St. Louis. This is likely true, but it completely misses the point: It was all about the postseason.

Circumstances have changed a lot for the Cardinals since making the Edman deal. At the trade deadline they were in the playoff race and made the move hoping it would bolster their roster enough to scrape into the wild card. At that time, there was a very good argument to be made for the trade being a "win-win" deal, but acquiring Fedde and Pham did not cut it.

Both players underperformed with the Cardinals. Fedde's ERA went from 3.11 in 21 starts with the White Sox to 3.72 in 10 starts with the Cardinals. Pham was DFA'd when it became clear that the team would miss the playoffs and found success in October after being picked up by the Kansas City Royals, batting .333 before the Royals were eliminated by the Yankees in the Division Series.

All they got from the deal was a starter who regressed as soon he arrived and a veteran loner that they gave away. Now, let's have a look at what they gave up.

Edman was still recovering from offseason wrist surgery at the time of the trade. He did not make his season debut for the Dodgers until mid-August. At that point, the Cardinals were no longer in the playoff picture. For the Cardinals that means giving up Edman was pretty much a wash in the short term.

What the future holds

Looking towards next season paints a different picture. The Cardinals gave up a key utility player and 2021 Gold Glove Award winner who showed strong offensive potential during his rookie season in 2019 before batting around the league average the following three seasons.

While Edman's return would not have meant much for the Cardinals this season, the performance he has shows as of late with the Dodgers proves that he still has the potential to be an offensive weapon and he still has another year on his deal.

One argument in favor of the trade is that Edman would be leaving the Cardinals no matter what following the 2025 season. While this may be true, the Cardinals could have leveraged this way better in the trade market next season.

Trading a healthy Edman next year could have yielded a larger return, especially if he were to play the way he is right now. While the move may have made sense for the Cardinals when they made it, the trade failed as soon as they were eliminated from postseason competition. There are no excuses for that.

The move may prove to be consequential to the Cardinals imminent rebuilding efforts. Hindsight is 20/20, but trading Edman for future assets this offseason or next season would have better move for the long term.

Now the Cardinals must plan out their rebuild without Edman as they watch their former player shine in the World Series.