6 Cardinals trade ideas after acquiring Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham

The St. Louis Cardinals likely made their biggest move of the deadline on Monday, acquiring Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox in a three-team trade that sent Tommy Edman to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cardinals still have work to do if they want to inspire this fanbase though, and they know that. Their shopping list has been clear for awhile - one starting starter, bullpen arm, and right-handed bat who could play some center field. They've crossed of the starter and bat already, now it is time to go out and get that last piece to their puzzle.

With the deadline hours away now, I put together six trade ideas that the Cardinals could pursue in these final offers. I tried to base these deals based off things that have been reported already and what we expect the Cardinals to be looking for.

Here are six trades the Cardinals can make to complete their trade deadline moves

Bring home the Mizzou man

Just look at the cost of acquiring relievers in the trade market right now. It is truly insane. It's why there are Cardinals fans who have been advocating that the Cardinals still try to trade Ryan Helsley even though the club is buying and contending.

The Cardinals are not trading Helsley, and they would like to add a reliever to their bullpen to help him and the rest of their high-leverage arms lock down games down the stretch and in October. If I was able to pick one reliever to fit that role perfectly for St. Louis who is available in trades, it would be Pete Fairbanks from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Fairbanks pitched for the University of Missouri and even grew up a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan. When asked by Chris Russo about his fandom growing up, Fairbanks glowed about how much he followed the Cardinals, and how pitchers like Jason Isringhausen, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jason Motte were idols of his growing up.

Fairbanks is an excellent reliever with a fastball that sits in the upper-90s and touches 100 MPH that pairs with a wipeout slider. Fairbanks has a 3.11 ERA and 3.25 FIP on the year to go with his 22.7 K%, but most seasons his K% has actually stat between 33.3%-43.7%. Fairbanks is deadly at the back end of games and would make the Cardinals' bullpen nasty for the rest of this season.

Another perk in acquiring Fairbanks is that you have him for two more seasons at a very affordable number as well. Fairbanks is set to make $3.7 million next year and has a $7 million club option for the following season, and both numbers would be absolute steals with how good he is. There is the question of whether or not the Cardinals' ownership would be willing to add that money, but if they seriously balk at that, every Cardinal fan should be furious.

Losing Ivan Herrera would be extremely difficult, but if you look at the packages it has taken to acquire relievers thus far, you'll understand how this isn't a crazy price in comparison to the deals being made.

I kind of think the Cardinals would want to lean in this direction, rather than giving up a package of prospects. That was their preference in the Fedde negotiations, and I'd imagine they maintain that in other conversations, if possible, as well.

Last tidbit - it is worth noting that Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said there is a chance they could acquire Fairbanks, and that it has not been ruled out by anyone he has spoken to.

Go get the best rental reliever on the market

The Miami Marlins would be another interesting fit for Herrera, but if that's the price for Scott, I'm hanging up the phone immediately. I don't love this package either, but it feels on brand and for what the market for Scott will end up looking like.

In this deal, the Cardinals offer the Marlins a high-upside pitching prospect in Tekoah Roby. Roby has struggled with injuries this season, much like he did with Texas in 2023. Roby has the talent to be a valuable starter at the big league level one day, and the Marlins always like to have more young pitching in their system.

Jimmy Crooks III has been incredible at the plate this year, posting an .865 OPS for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. In 719 professional at-bats thus far, his career OPS is .822 and he has continued to develop defensively as well.

This is a strong package for a rental reliever, but Scott has truly been a difference-maker this year. In 45.2 innings with the Marlins this year, Scott has posted a 1.18 ERA and 29.1 K%. Scott is a dynamic lefty who knows how to close down games and dominant righties or lefties, so he would take a ton of pressure off of specifically JoJo Romero for the rest of the year.

I could easily see Scott going for more in this market, and because of that, he feels like an unlikely fit for St. Louis. It is just hard to imagine them giving up so much value for a rental reliever, no matter how good he is.

Still, I think Scott is a name that is worth monitoring.

Acquire another former Cardinal from the White Sox

I am honestly surprised Dylan Carlson and John Brebbia were not included in the Fedde/Pham deal that happened on Monday, but I do not believe that means it cannot happen today.

The White Sox have a ton of players on their roster that they'd like to move, so it is safe to say they have a lot of decisions they have to make. Also, with how expensive relievers have been in trades, they could easily be holding Brebbia for better offers, knowing they can probably get Carlson at the final hour for him if they need to.

Everyone in baseball knows Carlson is going to be traded or designated for an assignment here soon. The Cardinals could option Carlson to Triple-A if they cannot find a trade for him, but I do expect him to be moved, even if it is just for a very low-end prospect (see the Paul DeJong trade last year).

Carlson has gone from a once-promising prospect to a -0.8 fWAR player over the course of a few seasons, and the White Sox are one of the perfect landing places for him. It's a team that Carlson can reestablish himself and his game with by playing every single day.

Brebbia is not a flashy name, and his 5.09 ERA will catch many eyes, but the underlying numbers continue to point to better success coming. Brebbia owns a 3.10 FIP on the year while striking out hitters at a high rate, and I strongly believe that getting him in front of the Cardinals' defense and on a contender would help his game out a ton.

Remember this breakout Cardinal reliever from 2021?

Ah, yes, remember the Luis Garcia days? That St. Louis bullpen in 2021 was wild, to say the least. The Cardinals ran relievers Alex Reyes, Giovanny Gallegos, and Genesis Cabrera into the ground over the course of the season. Eventually, they brought in Luis Garcia, and he was a major asset to that high-leverage group the rest of the year.

In fact, that performance he had for St. Louis in 2021 helped him go from journeyman reliever close to being out of a job to landing a contract with the San Diego Padres that following offseason. Garcia was even better for San Diego in 2022, but fell off in 2023, before rebounding again this year.

For the Angels, Garcia has a 3.71 ERA and 3.67 FIP over 43.2 innings of work. His strikeout stuff is down from years past, but he still gets a lot of ground balls.

Grabbing Garcia wouldn't be the best move they could make, but he should get the job done as another reliever to their high-leverage mix, filling in the spot that the Cardinals thought either Giovanny Gallegos or Keynan Middleton would this year. I'd imagine Garcia would slot in below Kittredge, Romero, and Fernandez in the high-leverage pecking order, but the Cardinals really do need support in those middle innings.

In order to get Garcia in St. Louis, I have them giving up two Triple-A players who are not on their 40-man roster and have a hard path toward playing time in St. Louis. McGreevy was the Cardinals' first-round pick in 2021 but has not figured things out in professional baseball. He has a 4.45 ERA in 109.1 innings this year for Memphis, and so maybe the Angels could throw him in their rotation this year and see what happens. Nick Dunn is a 27-year-old infielder who still has not made his MLB debut, but with an .881 OPS in Triple-A, he doesn't have much left to prove.

Another Washington reliever, but a bit more costly

If the Cardinals want a better reliever from the Nationals, aka Kyle Finnegan, they'll have to give up more to get that done.

Finnegan is Washington's hard-throwing closer who has posted a 2.47 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 43.2 innings this year along with a 25.4 K% and 40.9% groundball rate. He's among the better strikeout relievers in baseball, and Finnegan is under team control through the 2025 season on an affordable salary.

Finnegan has been good in all five seasons he's pitched thus far in his career, with an ERA ranging between 2.47 and 3.76, and he's actually been able to add velocity to his game ver the course of each season. Finnegan's closing experience would be a nice addition for St. Louis, as they know he can handle big spots in any inning of the game.

Due to how he has performed this year though and the extra control, St. Louis would have to pay more than a Floro trade, which is why I have them sending the pair of Gordon Graceffo and Cesar Prieto to get this done.

Gordon Graceffo was recently hit by a line drive while pitching for Memphis, but Mozeliak did confirm that the X-rays came back clean. While the last two years have been disappointing from Graceffo, he's still a guy who should be viewed as a potential starter in this league or a productive reliever. He has shown he can build up velocity in a really encouraging way and has a good slider when he is on, but still has a ways to go to recapture the promise he had back in 2022.

Cesar Prieto was acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade and has been producing at a high level at the plate in Triple-A this year. It's been reported that teams around the league have interest in him, and while he could be a nice piece for St. Louis in the future, I do think a team like the Nationals would value him more.