In no unspecific terms, the St. Louis Cardinals should be done with veteran starting pitcher Erick Fedde. The numbers he's consistently putting up right now for a team in the NL playoff picture just simply haven't been good enough. Yet, the Cards reportedly plan to essentially buy and sell at the July 31 MLB trade deadline, and would love to deal Fedde on an expiring contract for some semblance of immediate help. Thus, they're continuing to start him, and that's not exactly working out for St. Louis.
Fedde took the mound on Saturday for the Cardinals' penultimate game before the All-Star break against the Atlanta Braves. And the veteran right-hander didn't start to turn things around and help out St. Louis by giving himself some semblance of trade value. Instead, he immediately put his team in trouble — and then only made things worse from there.
In his first inning of work and despite being inside the friendly confines of Busch Stadium, Fedde first needed six pitches to get Jurickson Profar out, then narrowly missed getting taken deep by Matt Olson on a flyout. He was not so lucky with Ronald Acuña Jr., however, who belted a 379-foot homer to give the Braves the early lead in the first inning.
Things only got worse from there for Fedde and the Cardinals, and their plan almost couldn't be going any more poorly than it currently is.
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Erick Fedde is ruining the Cardinals' trade deadline plans
Fedde got out of the first inning allowing just one run, but then immediately gave up another solo shot to Marcell Ozuna in the top of the second inning before giving up another run after back-to-back singles and then an RBI groundout. And while the Cardinals answered to tie to the game in the second inning as well, Fedde ultimately couldn't make it out of the fifth inning before being pulled so the bullpen could come in and try to keep things in reach.
Entering Saturday's start, which the Cardinals had to make a decision on even letting happen with how bad the veteran's performed, Fedde had posted a 14.21 ERA over his past two starts and a 9.30 ERA over his past five. In doing so, he's put St. Louis in an absolutely impossible position.
The Cards are looking to ride the fence at the trade deadline because they're still in the playoff mix but also aiming to build for the future with Chaim Bloom set to take the front office reins from John Mozeliak. Early in the year, it looked as if Fedde could be a perfect piece to help them toe that line, a solid starter who's deal is up after this season but who could fetch a prospect or a more controllable piece back in a trade. Or, if they needed rotation depth, Fedde then looked like a solid back-end option.
Now, he's neither of those things. His trade value has never been lower, to the point that the Cardinals legitimately might have trouble moving him even for the most minuscule return package. Furthermore, they can't keep putting him out to make starts because, well, he's not helping the team win games when he's on the mound. It's now a lose-lose situation for the club with Fedde.
It'll now be fascinating to see what the Cards do coming out of the All-Star break. Do they continue to try and give Fedde chances to prove he has some trade value, or do they simply cut bait and reshuffle the rotation without a trade? The latter seems more attractive for a fan base that wants to see the team compete, but we'll have to see if that or the front office's long-term plans ultimately win out in the decision-making.