A Cardinals-White Sox trade to cement St. Louis as NL contender

The St. Louis Cardinals are having quite the comeback year despite their obvious weaknesses. While they appear closer to postseason material, they currently don’t look like they have a shot against the titans of the NL like the Dodgers or Phillies. One such weakness is the lack of a reliable starter behind Sonny Gray.

With a 3.54 ERA through 106.2 innings, Sonny Gray has been the ace and anchor of the Cardinals’ starting rotation. Beyond him, the ERAs of the Cardinals’ starters only grow. Now there are growing rumors that St. Louis is interested in acquiring a new potential ace from the White Sox.

The immediate conclusion would be to think the Cardinals’ are pursuing the strike out king, Garrett Crochet. But the White Sox now appear to be backing away from a Crochet trade with the perception that he would have a bigger market in the offseason. However, the Cardinals are after a starter with a lower ERA and more innings pitched this season than Crochet.

The pitcher in question happens to be Erick Fedde.

(For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, and join the discord to get the inside scoop as we near the July 30 MLB trade deadline.)

Erick Fedde would give the Cardinals rotation the boost it needs

Fedde owns a 2.98 ERA through 117.2 IP. While he trails Crochet in just about every pitching metric, his ERA is still slightly lower than Crochet’s 3.07. Fedde will most likely cost fewer prospects than Crochet. Fedde is signed through 2025 and is owed $7.5 million both this year and next.

So, who would the Cardinals need to give up? To start, the STL will no doubt want to hang on to their top prospects as they are not a strong team. The Cardinals have two prospects on the MLB Top 100 Prospects list. Since Fedde is only signed through 2025, both are probably safe. Still, Fedde isn’t going to come cheap. With that said, let’s explore a package that might bring the Cardinals a deep postseason run.

3B/OF Jordan Walker

Jordan Walker was once touted as a top 10 prospect in the MLB. He was brought up last year to much fanfare and made a decent freshman showing hitting .276 with 16 HR through 420 ABs.

But this year is a different story. After going 9-58, Walker was sent back down. Through 256 ABs in Triple-A this year, Walker has a slash line of .238/.302/.367 with four HR. At this point, the Cardinals would be trading him on his potential and not his results. However, Walker’s potential shouldn’t be dismissed.

C Jimmy Crooks 

With Willson Contreras under club control through 2028, the No. 12 prospect in the Cardinals organization, Jimmy Crooks, likely won’t be needed for a while. Plus, he isn’t the highest rated catcher in the Cardinals’ farm system.

Slashing .306/.408/.468 with 6 HR through 216 ABs, Crooks is having a phenomenal year. With a hit and power repertoire ranked by scouts as average, he has excelled past the meager expectations set for him. Even with his great numbers, he is still mainly known as a great defensive catcher.

RHP Adam Kloffenstein

The No. 16 prospect in the Cardinals’ organization, Adam Kloffenstein, has already made his MLB debut. The right hander pitched one cleaning inning in the majors. His 4.74 ERA through 89.1 innings this season at Triple-A hasn’t been very impressive. But his 3.16 ERA through Double and Triple-A last year was very encouraging.

Scouts think Kloffenstein will be a back of the rotation starter, but if he can improve his command, he could be much more successful.