CHICAGO — In order to find a way to reinvigorate his career, pitcher Erick Fedde went to great lengths. He relocated to Arizona, he globetrotted for a season in Korea’s top league and he even spent several months with the White Sox as they spelunked new lows as an organization.
For the next step in his career, he just had to chill for a few days in Chicago.
The Cardinals’ headline deadline acquisition, Fedde joined his new club for the first time Thursday at Wrigley Field. He had spent the previous two days since the trade in Chicago, readying to leave the city when the Cardinals do and preparing for his Cardinals debut. Instead of on the South Side trying to stop a 16-game losing streak, Fedde will start on the North Side for a Cardinals club in contention and looking to scale the standings. He had to go a long way after being dropped by Washington to being coveted by the Cardinals.
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“Sometimes you have a wake-up call and it’s an important time to decide whether you’re going to crumble or you’re going to do something about it,†Fedde said of the Nationals declining to keep him on the roster after 2022. “I looked at myself in the mirror. Made some big changes. Moved to Arizona. Worked on some things. Went to Korea. Took a chance. I’m happy to stay things worked out well.
“I was lucky enough to be traded,†he continued, “and now try to put it together in really big, important games.â€
The Cardinals activated Fedde and new reliever Shawn Armstrong on Thursday ahead of the series opener against the Cubs. Armstrong, who was acquired Tuesday from Tampa Bay in exchange for outfielder Dylan Carlson, was available Thursday night. Fedde came in the three-team deal that also brought Tommy Pham back to ºüÀêÊÓƵ and sent utility fielder Tommy Edman to the Dodgers. The Cardinals and Fedde decided Friday made sense for his debut to keep him on his schedule.
Fedde went 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA in 21 starts for the Sox. His last win, on July 10, was also the Sox’s most recent win entering Thursday. He was credited with seven of the Sox’s first 27 wins. He started nearly a third of their wins.
“This is going to be a good fit,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
Fedde being coveted at the trade deadline by contenders can be traced back to Washington letting him become a free agent instead of maintaining his rights. That happened in November 2022. He was living in Arizona soon after — and chasing a new pitch there that he found with the help of a former Cardinals first-rounder.
Shelby Miller showed Fedde a grip on a sweeping slider — a pitch Miller worked on within the Yankees organization that was, well, sweeping through the majors.
“I got to the point where I didn’t really have that swing-and-miss pitch,†Fedde said. “Put me in a lot of tough situations early in my career. Just getting something that could put hitters away and be effective — that is something that has changed my game. Throwing it harder feels like a pitch I can lean on at all times.â€
Fedde went from throwing around three sliders for every 100 pitches to throwing the sweeper 20% of the time and an average of 4 mph faster. He ditched his curveball and shifted his grip on his change-up to create more of a diving splitter action on it. He went from throwing the change-up 3.6% of the time to now 18.9%. Both of them are among the most effective pitches in the majors.
Opponents are hitting .167 against his sweeper and missing it 27.9% of the time.
While with the White Sox, Fedde was able to “keep it sharp and keep it growing.â€
Between 2022 and 2023, Fedde declined the offers from major league clubs that were split contracts and likely to plant him and his new pitches at Class AAA. The KBO called. There, where contact rules the style of play, Fedde was able to really test the effectiveness of his new pitches. He catalyzed his reinvention as the league’s first foreign-born Triple Crown winner. He led the league in wins (20), ERA (2.00) and strikeouts (209). The spoils included trophies, he said, and something valuable at the end of that travel.
A contract to come back.
“It’s a cool thing to say you did,†Fedde said. “If anything, it helped me find my way back to the big leagues.â€
McGreevy leaves lingering impression
The difficulty he had this season against left-handed batters prompted Cardinals prospect Michael McGreevy to develop a different look, a cut fastball, at Class AAA Memphis.
In his first major league start, he got his first strikeout with that cutter.
Against Texas’s Nathaniel Lowe — a left-handed batter.
Talk about positive reinforcement.
Although the Cardinals followed their script and optioned McGreevy back to the Triple-A Redbirds on Thursday, the young right-hander and former first-round pick left an impression that still had the club lauding him a day later. McGreevy allowed one run through seven strong innings to get a win in his MLB debut. He struck out three and coaxed 12 groundouts. McGreevy, the Cardinals’ first pick in the 2021 draft, threw six different pitches, and the one that got the most swings and misses was the cutter, which buzzed at an average of 88.4 mph.
“He was under control that entire outing, (and) no part of that game sped him up,†Marmol said. “You would not have thought it was his first time out there in a big league game. Kept those guys on the ground, navigated the lefties well. He was exactly what was needed especially with what the offense did. To be able to give us seven and hit the refresh button for that ’pen was amazing.â€
MLB adjusts playoff pause
The playoff schedule announced Thursday by Major League Baseball has a new elasticity to it that may address concerns that stretch all the way back to the Tigers’ follies against the Cardinals in the 2006 World Series. For the first time, the start of the World Series will adjust if both the league championship series are brief.
If the ALCS and NLCS are completed by Oct. 19, the World Series will move up three days to Oct. 22. Otherwise, the World Series will start on Oct. 25 with a potential Game 7 finish on Nov. 2.
The flexibility is meant to avoid long layoffs that have chilled teams.
“I do know long breaks aren’t favorable,†Marmol said. “If both teams finish early and you get to keep rolling, that’s probably smart. Timing and rhythm and momentum and all of it. There’s something to momentum of just a fan base staying engaged as well.â€
Extra bases
Jordan Walker blistered a double off the left field wall Wednesday night in Durham, North Carolina, night for Class AAA Memphis that left his bat at 113.1 mph. That was his highest exit velocity of the season so far, and it ranked the fifth-fastest for the Redbirds.
- To make room for Fedde and Armstrong, the Cardinals optioned McGreevy and reliever Ryan Loutos to Memphis.
- The Toronto Blue Jays claimed catcher Nick Raposo off waivers from the Cardinals on Thursday. Raposo had been removed from the 40-man roster on Monday to help make room for the Cardinals’ two acquisitions, Fedde and Pham.
- The Cardinals will learn as early as Friday if Giovanny Gallegos cleared waivers. They don’t expect a team to pick up the remainder of his $6 million salary and $500,000 buyout and are braced to owe him that much when they release the right-handed reliever to become a free agent. He’ll be able to sign for the league minimum with any team at that point.
- Thursday was the 39th anniversary of the day the Cardinals stole four bases on a single pitch against the Cubs. Vince Coleman and current Cardinals coach Willie McGee were each caught in rundowns that went long enough that neither was tagged out — and both advanced two bases for a pair of steals each.