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

The St. Louis Cardinals just finalized a three-team trade with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, acquiring RHP Erick Fedde and OF Tommy Pham from Chicago while sending CF Tommy Edman and minor league pitcher Oliver Gonzalez to Los Angeles.

Rumors began to swirl about this potential three-team trade last night, and the clubs were able to agree to terms as today unfolded. Reactions are popping up everywhere regarding this deal and I wanted to jump in and give my biggest winners, losers, and overall trade grades from this deal.

Winner: John Mozeliak

This was a masterclass move from John Mozeliak. After being backed into a corner by ownership at this deadline due to their unwillingness to add salary to this roster, Mozeliak had to get creative if he was going to be able to add anything of significance to this roster. and boy did he.

Flipping Edman, who has still yet to appear in a game this year, and the one and a half years remaining of control he has for a year and a half of Fedde and rental bat in Pham is all you could possibly ask for. Edman has been an extremely valuable player for the Cardinals and has not always been appreciated enough for what he provides for the team, but the presence of Masyn Winn and Michael Siani made his role less clear for the club, and they parlayed that to fill two major needs

Fedde has been really good this year, posting a 3.11 ERA across 121.2 innings for the dumpster fire Chicago White Sox. Fedde now gets to pitch for a contender and in front of a really good defense, and while fans have concerns about his past MLB performances, Fedde remade himself last season while pitching in the KBO.

The Cardinals get a reunion with Pham, who will provide the most value to them as a right-handed bat against left-handed pitching. The Cardinals have been horrible against lefties this year, while Pham has posted a 141 wRC+. He'll likely start in left field or center field against lefties while Nootbaar or Siani starts at the other position, and he may even get some run against right-handers as well.

What a move by John Mozeliak!

Loser: Hindsight

While I am going to give Mozeliak all of the credit he deserves here, it is fair to at least point out that he could have signed Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham this offseason for very inexpensive contracts, and still have Tommy Edman in the organization.

I am not allowing that to hurt the trade grade though, as you can make that argument for every club when it comes to those two players, and you can make that argument about so many other guys who will be traded at this deadline as well.

Still, it would have been nice to just have had these two the whole time.

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.

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.