The Cardinals front office did pretty good work ahead of the trade deadline.
John Mozeliak and Co. addressed the team’s immediate team needs while also clinging to the franchise’s top prospects and key young veterans.
The Cardinals added starting pitcher Erick Fedde, who shores up the rotation this season and fills a big 2025 need at a bargain $7.5 million rate.
The team traded injured utility player Tommy Edman, who wasn’t part of this year’s squad, and subtracted his $9.5 million salary for next season.
Budgeting is extremely important to the DeWitts, so that three-way trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox was a bottom-line win.
The team brought back fiery outfielder Tommy Pham as a rental for the rest of the season, gaining a veteran who punishes left-handed pitching.
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The team subtracted fifth outfielder Dylan Carlson, who, unfortunately, took a wrong career turn. Now, the Tampa Bay Rays will get a chance to fix him.
That trade fetched veteran reliever Shawn Armstrong, who excelled last season and has struggled this year. This was a disappointing return after the team pursued deals for Dylan Floro and Luis Garcia, but at least the team added more bullpen experience.
Now comes the hard part: The Cardinals must play catch-up in the playoff race in the near term and build organizational strength in the long term.
Fedde adds another mid-rotation arm to a staff with mostly mid- or back-of-the-rotation arms. He does not transform the group.
But Fedde provides immediate support to a rotation that doesn’t get its next day off until Aug. 11. No. 1 starter Sonny Gray has shown signs of strain this month (6.75 ERA in four starts), and Lance Lynn, Miles Mikolas and Kyle Gibson have each suffered a tough outing or two.
Andre Pallante has done well filling in as the No. 5 starter, so rolling with a six-man rotation until the next off day could make sense. Wedging prospect Michael McGreevy into the rotation Wednesday speaks to that, although manager Oliver Marmol wants to revert to a five-man alignment.
Pham adds some more right-side pop to the outfield and clubhouse energy. His return, plus the Carlson/Armstrong trade, are signs that former Tampa Bay executive Chaim Bloom has gained influence in the front office.
While Pham should offer more offense than the flailing Carlson, the Cardinals still face unanswered questions. Can Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado finish strong? Can whiff-prone Nolan Gorman make more consistent contact? Can Alec Burleson sustain his offensive breakout?
Edman could have had brought value before the end of the season while backing up at shortstop and playing center field against left-handed pitching. His departure puts more on the shoulders of Masyn Winn and Michael Siani.
In Carlson’s absence, Lars Nootbaar must hold up with occasional center field shifts. That will be a challenge.
As for Armstrong, the 2023 version of him (1.38 ERA, 0.94 WHIP) would help this team, but the ’24 version (5.40 ERA, 1.608 WHIP) may not. So again, there is work to do.
Looking past this season, the retention of young veterans like Gorman and prospects like Jordan Walker, Ivan Herrera, Victor Scott II, Thomas Saggese and Jimmy Crooks was notable. This franchise still has a peak amount of young position player talent.
But can it develop that talent into production at the highest level?
Mozeliak wisely declined to trade low on Walker, who enjoyed a fine rookie campaign with the Cardinals last season but plunged into a months-long offensive funk at Triple-A Memphis this year. Through the weekend, he was hitting just .237 with a .677 on-base plus slugging percentage since his demotion.
Meanwhile Chase Davis, picked 21st overall in 2023, hit just .232 with a .738 OPS at Low-A Palm Beach before getting promoted to High-A Peoria. But Davis has finally gained traction the past two months after struggling with his transition from college ball.
Having watched Carlson’s rise and fall, fans are wondering if the Cardinals will ever develop a full complement of productive outfielders and achieve positional stability there.
Saggese has heated up at Memphis, so could give this team another right-side hitter next season. Herrera is producing at Triple-A, just as he did in the majors, but he still needs work behind the plate. Scott offers enticing speed and center field range, but his offensive progression stalled at Memphis this year.
As for the organization’s top pitching prospects, most have struggled with injuries and/or inconsistency this season. McGreevy, for instance, has allowed five or more runs five times at Memphis.
After Pallante, there were no viable internal options to replace injured starter Steven Matz this season. So had Andre failed ... well, you don’t want to think about that. The urgency to do better on the pitching development front is as high as ever.
But for the moment, order is restored. The Cardinals are better equipped to stay in the playoff race. They also bought more time for further prospects development.
Now let’s see if the players take advantage of it.