Biggest winners, losers, and trade grades from Cardinals-White Sox-Dodgers trade

Winner: Tommy Pham

Pham was trying to play for a contender all offseason but was unable to find any interested suitors until Spring Training got underway. Still, nothing seemed to materialize, so Pham decided to take a deal with the White Sox so he could get some of the value he thought he deserved financially and play a lot.

We already talked about how good Pham has been against left-handed pitching, and overall, he's been a valuable player this year. His overall numbers include a .266/.330/.380 slash line with a 102 wRC+ in 297 plate appearances. The Cardinals have lacked offensive production this year, so the addition of Pham will go a long way for their club.

Pham will start against left-handed pitching while coming off the bench as a pinch hitter when a righty starts. He also makes for a really nice fourth outfielder whenever one of Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, or Michael Siani needs a break from the everyday lineup.

It was a tough first half for Pham to play for the White Sox, but he now gets the opportunity to play for a familiar organization and contending team in the second half.

Loser: Dylan Carlson

The person who Pham will replace on the roster is outfielder Dylan Carlson, who will surely be moved in a trade over the next 24 hours.

It's a tough pill to swallow for Carlson, but one he and everyone else have seen coming for a long time now. Once one of the top prospects in all of baseball and finishing top 3 in Rookie of the Year voting in 2021, Carlson has regressed each season since then and now looks like a shell of his former self.

Carlson is slashing .198/.275/.240 with a 52 wRC+ in 59 games for St. Louis and has basically lost any role with the club. Carlson occasionally starts when they really need an off day for someone or comes in as a defensive replacement late in games, but he has overall been a major negative for the team, evidenced by his -0.8 fWAR thus far.

It will be a win for Carlson once he is finally sent to a new team, but overall, he comes out as a loser due to the fall from grace he has been on.

Winner: Tommy Edman

Tommy Edman has been so important to the Cardinals' success since coming up in 2019. He has been the glue that helps the roster come together, filling in at a number of positions whenever the Cardinals needed him. In 2022, Edman should have been an All-Star, as he posted a 5.4 fWAR as an above-league-average hitter while playing great defense wherever they needed him.

Last year, Edman showed the ability to play a great center field as well, thus making himself the Opening Day center fielder going into Spring Training...but he's yet to play a game for St. Louis.

Offseason wrist surgery has sidelined Edman up until this point, and while he is expected to return in the next week or two, his prolonged absence and the emergence of Masyn Winn and Michael Siani gave the Cardinals an opening to move Edman for pitching.

If there was a perfect landing spot for Edman though, the Los Angeles Dodgers are that team. He's from California, his mother grew up a Dodgers fan, and he'll likely play a bigger role for the Dodgers day to day than he would have in St. Louis. The club has a lot of injuries right now, so Edman will likely play every day at a number of positions.

And hey, he gets to live in Los Angeles and play on an incredible team. That's quite the win if you're asking me.

Loser: The DeWitts

As much as I love this deal for the Cardinals, I hate the process (financially) that got them there.

The DeWitts informed Mozeliak and his team that they did not want salary added onto their books this deadline, especially over the next few seasons. That meant that in order to acquire someone like Fedde, who is owed $7.5 million next year, they would have to move some salary.

Frankly, that is just a ridiculous request from the same ownership group that tried to tell fans this offseason that the TV revenue question marks would not impact spending, and that they had money left over to go and upgrade at the deadline. I understand that revenue changes, but that is a really difficult thing to walk back when your fanbase already questions the spending that occurs.

Trade grades

Cardinals - A

Seriously, what an excellent move from the Cardinals front office. They turned Edman, who has not contributed yet this season and would have a diminished role when he returned, into a number two or three starter and an important bat is a masterclass by Mozeliak. And apparently, most fans agree!

Dodgers - B

The Dodgers have long been an admirer of Tommy Edman, so bringing him onto their roster with all of the ways he can help them is good business. They also were able to add another bullpen arm to their club here in Michael Kopech, why they may be able to unlock into a powerhouse reliever with his elite stuff.

Still, it feels like they gave up a lot to make this happen. Miguel Vargas is a former top prospect who has struggled at the MLB level but has been incredible in Triple-A. Still just 24 years old and with five years of club control remaining, Vargas could be a very valuable piece for the White Sox moving forward. The Dodgers also gave up two other interesting prospects that we'll talk about in a moment.

The high price to pay mixed with the uncertainty of what Edman will provide when he finally returns feels a bit risky to me, but the Dodgers tend to know what they are doing. With all of that in mind, I'll give this deal a B.

White Sox - B

The White Sox also get a B for me, as they turned Fedde, Pham, and Kopech into three really interesting pieces long-term.

As I said earlier, Vargas is a former top prospect who will now get consistent opportunites with Chicago. If he is able to get things back on track, he's a player who can make moving Fedde worth it all on his own.

Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez are both a long way from potentially contributing, but both infielders are 19 years old and fell inside the Dodgers' top 20 prospects according to Baseball America. Albertus is an extremely disciplined hitter with a plus-hit tool, while Perez is also a great on-base guy but lacks a defining tool.

This seems like a good return for the White Sox though, and being able to turn this into a three-team deal meant they were able to get prospects they liked from Los Angeles while moving Fedde to a team who really wanted him.