Cardinals Rumors: Dodgers and Yankees are interested in Tommy Edman

While the St. Louis Cardinals explore opportunities to add to their roster at this year's trade deadline, more and more smoke around the idea that they could use utility man Tommy Edman to acquire controllable starting pitching has built up around the industry.

First reported by Katie Woo of The Athletic and then confirmed by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya (subscription required), the Los Angeles Dodgers are in talks with the Cardinals regarding a deal for Edman, while the New York Yankees have expressed interest as well.

The Dodgers have long bene interested in adding Edman to their roster. The Cardinals' utility man is a California native and would fill in nicely for the Dodgers at a variety of positions while strengthening the bottom of their lineup for 2024 and 2025. Edman has missed the entiriety of the 2024 season up until this point, but is expected to return soon following his current rehab assignment.

While the Cardinals could use a right-handed bat in their lineup who can hit left-handed pitching like Edman, they may see this as the easiest way for them to add pitching to the club, and could pursue a lesser name like Tommy Pham or Mark Canha to replace Edman in a separate deal. They also still have catcher Ivan Herrera in Triple-A, and could look to recall him to their roster and have him get more at-bats against lefties as well.

It's not clear what exactly the Cardinals could get back in a deal with the Dodgers, as I doubt they'd be looking to move any of their big league pitching with all of the injuries they have had this year. They do have a strong farm system though and could give the Cardinals more ammunition to acquire a starter like Erick Fedde from the White Sox.

The Yankees' interest in Edman is fascinating, and in Woo's initial report about their interest in Edman, she floated out the name Nestor Cortes as a potential return for St. Louis. Similar to the Harrison Bader-Jordan Montgomery trade in 2022, the Cardinals could flip an injured center fielder with a year and a half of control to the Yankees for a left-handed starter they have lost interest in.

Cortes was great in 2022, posting a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts after breaking out the season before. 2023 was a major dissapointment for Cortes though, as he battled injuries and saw his ERA balloon to 4.97, and he has been average in 2024 with a 4.13 ERA. St. Louis could sell themselves on the idea that left-handed starters tend to have more success at Busch Stadium, and their improved defense this year could help Cortes in their rotation.

While the Dodgers and the Yankees are the two teams that seem to be in the hottest pursuit of Edman, do not be surprised if other teams join the mix. At this point, I would expect Edman to be moved, and whatever that return is will influence what else the Cardinals decide to do at this deadline.