6 impact starting pitchers the Cardinals could trade for at an affordable price

Erick Fedde, White Sox

Erick Fedde is someone who the Cardinals and a lot of other teams around baseball were looking at this past offseason after he revitalized his career in the KBO, similar to how Miles Mikolas did before signing with St. Louis years ago.

Since returning to Major League Baseball this season, Fedde has been really good for the White Sox, posting a 3.09 ERA in 15 starts thus far, and his 3.44 FIP indicates that success is pretty real despite not being a major swing-and-miss guy or elite baserunner prevention.

The White Sox are clearly in sell mode and have multiple pieces the Cardinals may want, so I'm sure they'll discuss Fedde at some point. Fedde is a player that a lot of contenders will be interested in and is probably in the "Tier 2" of starting pitchers who will be available this July in trades.

One of the appealing parts of Fedde as well is his contract, which runs through the 2025 season at just $7 million. That honestly could cause the Cardinals to look elsewhere, not because they wouldn't enjoy having Fedde under contract at such a bargain, but because that could make his price point go up and even more appealing to clubs with real holes in their rotation for 2025.

The Cardinals rotation isn't exactly bulletproof for 2025 either, but they do have Gray, Mikolas, and Matz under contract with team options for Gibson and Lynn, and they also have guys like Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews on the rise. And who knows? Maybe even one of their Triple-A arms can finally figure things out as well.

All that to say, Fedde would be a bargain considering what he's being paid, and I'm sure the Cardinals will be one of the suitors, I'm just not sure if they'd want to pay up for more control rather than just go after someone who's on an expiring deal for less.