The St. Louis Cardinals both bought and sold at the MLB trade deadline last season. It's been a common occurrence during the John Mozeliak era, and it's not a positive trend. The Cardinals don't have a plan, and it always comes back to huant them. The same can be said about starting pitcher Erick Fedde, who the Cardinals acquired at the 2024 deadline in a three-team trade that sent Tommy Edman to the Dodgers and Tommy Pham out of town. Just a year later, and that move will go down as one of the worst of the Mozeliak era. St. Louis has pulled the plug.
Fedde would have been a trade asset for the Cardinals had he pitched up to his potential this season. Unfortunately, his 5.22 ERA suggests otherwise. The Cards could still trade Fedde, but they just forfeited all of their leverage by designating him for assignment.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Cardinals DFA Erick Fedde and lose trade deadline leverage
The Cardinals let the Fedde experiment go on far too long, as they continued to trot out the struggling pitcher every fifth day to no avail. In his most recent start, Fedde was rocked by the lowly Colorado Rockies, an appearance that surely forced the organization's hand. As FanSided's Zach Rotman noted after Tuesday's start, Fedde's struggles basically summarize why Cardinals fans are tired of Mozeliak's act.
"This, ultimately, is why Cardinals fans are so irate with Mozeliak. It makes no sense that Fedde is still getting starts for this team. If they want to win, why are they starting the guy who had a 6.41 ERA in his last 10 starts before Tuesday's implosion? The Cardinals were 5-14 in his first 19 starts, which is impossibly bad for a team that was three games over .500 overall entering the day. If they want to build for the future, how does using a struggling 32-year-old on an expiring contract help?"
The Chaim Bloom era arrived earlier than expected in St. Louis
By parting ways with another one of Mozeliak's mistakes, the Cardinals are begging Chaim Bloom to save them ahead of time. Any rumored St. Louis power struggle at this season's deadline has gone out the window over the past week, as the Cards have tumbled down the standings. St. Louis is just two games over .500 and 8.5 games back in the NL Central. While they are still alive for an NL Wild Card spot, does the front office really believe this team is just a few moves away from making a serious postseason run? I doubt it.
Bloom is a rebuild artist. He tore it all down in Boston and could be asked to build around the Cardinals young core as St. Louis' long list of veterans falter in late July.