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The Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals are competing for the NL Central where the first-place Brewers have a six game lead over St. Louis entering play on Saturday. In addition to the division crown, the two teams are also competing for the services of Chicago White Sox’s pitcher Erick Fedde at the MLB trade deadline, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Insiders with knowledge of the teams’ deadline plans say both the Brewers and the Cardinals are “pushing for Fedde,” per Rosenthal. Regardless, the White Sox aren’t letting the trade talk alter their game plan. The team started Fedde Saturday against the Seattle Mariners and Chicago plans to start its other big trade chip, Garrett Crochet, on Sunday against Seattle.
While Crochet has stolen most of the trade headlines, Fedde has been very good for the White Sox this season. Fedde spent the first six years of his career with the Washington Nationals before playing in Korea in 2023. After signing with Chicago in the offseason, the 31-year-old righty is 7-3 with a career-best 2.98 ERA, an ERA+ of 138 and 4.7 WAR in 20 starts this year.
Both the Brewers and the Cardinals would greatly benefit from an upgrade to their rotations. And Fedde would likely become the top starter for either team. Milwaukee’s staff ranks 16th in baseball with a 4.13 ERA, 20th in batting average against, 21st in WHIP, 25th in WPA, 27th in strikeouts and 28th in quality starts. St. Louis starters aren’t much better, coming in at 23rd overall with a 4.44 ERA and ranking 24th in batting average against, 17th in WHIP, 21st in WPA, 17th in strikeouts and 16th in quality starts.
Cardinals and Brewers both hope to land White Sox's Erick Fedde at the trade deadline
Fedde is making $7.5 million both this season and in 2025 before becoming a free agent in 2026. So he’d be more than a second-half rental for whoever lands him, giving his new team a second shot at contending with him in the rotation next year at a reasonable salary.
While the Cardinals are six games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, they’re just a game and a half out of a Wild Card berth. However, both Milwaukee and St. Louis could use the boost that would come with a big trade deadline deal. Both teams are 10-10 over their last 20 games while the Brewers have gone 4-2 and the Cardinals 3-4 since the All-Star break.
Meanwhile, the White Sox are the worst team in baseball this season. Entering play on Saturday, Chicago is 52 games under .500. The team is 12 games behind the second-worst team in MLB, the Colorado Rockies. As the White Sox play out the remainder of a lost season, the team has an opportunity to add young talent by selling at the deadline. They’re expected to make a number of players available for the right haul of prospects, including Crochet, Fedde, Luis Robert Jr., Michael Kopech and others.
While a number of contending teams would like to land Crochet at the deadline – including the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees – the Baltimore Orioles are currently the betting favorite to complete a trade for the White Sox’s young ace.
As for Fedde, in addition to the Brewers and the Cardinals, the Orioles, Houston Astros, Cleveland Guardians and Atlanta Braves have all shown some interest in acquiring the seven-year veteran.
