St. Louis Cardinals beat trade deadline to upgrade starting pitcher rotation

The St. Louis Cardinals made a major move to reshape their starting rotation for this and next season as well as shore up their right-handed outfield depth on Monday, acquiring right-hander Erick Fedde and outfielder and returning Cardinal Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox in a three-team trade which saw injured utility ace and former Gold Glove winner Tommy Edman sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to multiple media outlets.

Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic were the first to report on the deal, which is pending confirmation by all three teams.

Fedde, 31, was a middling starter for several seasons with the Washington Nationals before playing last season in Korea and revitalizing his career.

This year, for the moribund White Sox, he’s recorded a 3.11 ERA and averaged a mere 2.5 walks per nine innings. He is under contract for next season at a reasonable $7.5 million salary, providing important cost certainty to a rotation which was yet again likely in need of shoring up from outside sources.

Pham, 36, has five home runs and a .266 batting average for the White Sox this season, playing primarily in the corner outfield spots. Crucially, he has recorded an .848 OPS against lefties, an area in which the Cardinals have struggled badly. Pham played part of five big league seasons for St. Louis and finished 11th in most valuable player voting in 2017.

He has played for seven other teams since leaving the Cardinals, and at many of those stops, has extolled the virtues of the system in which he was developed.

Edman, 29, has not played in the majors this season after a complicated recovery from off-season wrist surgery. His rehab has also been slowed by a sprained ankle suffered while fielding ground balls at Busch Stadium earlier this month, though he has been engaged in a rehab assignment at Double-A Springfield.

Edman is under team control for one more season before reaching free agency, and is a plus defender at all three outfield positions as well as second base, third base and shortstop.

He won the NL Gold Glove at second base in 2021 and was one of the most successfully developed homegrown players in recent Cardinals history, but the emergence of infielders like Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman as well as center fielder Michael Siani made his $9.5 million salary for 2025 a chip the Cardinals were willing to move in order to create payroll flexibility.

This is a developing story which will be updated.