MLB trade deadline: Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham traded to Cardinals in 3-team deal involving Dodgers, White Sox

Erick Fedde’s baseball career took him from South Korea to the South Side of Chicago. Now the right-hander is headed to St. Louis.

The Cardinals acquired Fedde from the Chicago White Sox along with outfielder Tommy Pham in a three-team trade Monday, sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports' Russell Dorsey, striking a deal just before Tuesday's trade deadline for one of the top pitchers on the market and one of two big arms on the White Sox, alongside left-hander Garret Crochet.

Also in this deal, the Dodgers receive infielder/OF Tommy Edman and right-handed pitcher Michael Kopech, as well as prospect Oliver Gonzalez. The White Sox acquired prospects Miguel Vargas, Jeral Perez and Alexander Albertus. The White Sox announced the deal later Monday.

The deal is more than a rental, as Fedde has another year left on the two-year, $15 million contract he signed with the White Sox last offseason. Since joining Chicago, he has enjoyed the best season of his career by far, posting a 3.11 ERA with 108 strikeouts in 121 2/3 innings across 21 starts.

While Chicago has been the worst team in MLB this season, Crochet and Fedde were among the league's best starting-pitcher tandems. To get there, Crochet had to overcome the injury struggles that plagued his young career, while Fedde had to take a circuitous path to become a trade deadline prize.

How did the three teams fare in this deal?

This is a huge win for St. Louis, as they managed to fortify their rotation for this year and next year and add a right-handed-hitting outfielder they badly needed without giving up any prospects or a player who has contributed to the 2024 team. Fedde joins a staff filled with veteran right-handers with deep arsenals and could certainly start a postseason game if he can sustain his strong form or even reach another gear with his new team. Pham makes a fascinating return to the team that drafted him, six years later. He’ll look to have a similar impact on the Cardinals as he did on Arizona in the NL wild-card race a year ago.

This might not be the massive blockbuster we’ve come to expect from the Dodgers, but they generally have played more around the margins at the deadline in recent years, and this is a nifty way to address a few roster holes in one move. I love the Kopech pickup, and it would be the least surprising thing of all time if the Dodgers can harness his high-octane stuff into far more effectiveness than he showed with the Sox. Edman’s super-utility skills fit anywhere and especially this roster, with the current injuries, but his recent issues staying on the field prompt some questions about how impactful he’ll be — and how soon. He has been rehabbing in Double-A recently following offseason wrist surgery and a more recent ankle injury but has been only DH-ing, so it’s unclear how soon the Dodgers can expect him to make an impact on defense — let alone as a switch-hitter, where his offensive track record is exciting yet inconsistent.

I’m underwhelmed by the White Sox's return here, considering that they packaged three of their most prominent trade chips into one deal and got three total players in return. For a team in a full-blown rebuild, I don’t really understand how you don’t come away with more quantity, especially when dealing away players in Fedde and Kopech who are under contract for 2025. All that said, I generally support building trade returns around hitters over pitchers, and there is something to like about each of these bats. The 24-year-old Vargas has crushed Triple-A pitching the past three years (.923 OPS in 996 PA) but has yet to fully settle in against big-league arms. His defensive home is also unclear: He profiles well at second base but has also seen time at first, at third and in left field. Wherever he plays, Chicago must be confident that he can improve its desolate big-league lineup in short order.

Perez and Albertus are much further away but still intriguing. Perez represented the Dodgers at the Futures Game earlier this month and has been one of their better minor-league hitters this year, albeit as a 19-year-old in A-ball. He profiles best at second base but has bounced around the infield a fair bit. While Perez isn’t a big dude, he has solid power and strong OBP skills for such a young hitter, and he adds a promising, polished bat to a system in dire need of them. Albertus is more of an upside swing, a well-built third baseman with exciting bat speed who has crushed on the complex but has yet to translate his success to a full-season affiliate. Also just 19, he has plenty of time to figure it out. — Jordan Shusterman

Erick Fedde's career changed in South Korea

Rewind to about a year and a half ago, and Fedde's MLB career looked to be on the verge of ending.

The Washington Nationals, who selected Fedde with the 18th overall pick of the 2014 MLB Draft, cut him loose after another ineffective season. He posted a 5.81 ERA in 2022, the second-worst mark in the majors (min. 100 innings pitched) behind only teammate Patrick Corbin. That season was a dark time for the Nationals, and Fedde was a significant reason for that.

As he reached free agency, Fedde held a career 5.41 ERA and was set to turn 30 before the next season. He at least had a World Series ring to show for his time in the nation's capital, but he hadn't actually pitched in the 2019 postseason.

Rather than join a new MLB team on a minor-league deal, Fedde moved to a different hemisphere. He signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the NC Dinos in Changwon, South Korea, taking a route often used by once-promising pitchers struggling to stick in MLB.

The results in Korea were astonishing, even when accounting for the different talent level. Fedde posted, quite simply, the best season ever seen in the KBO by a foreign pitcher and one of the best ever overall.

He led the league in wins with a 20-6 record. He led the league in strikeouts with 209 in 180 1/3 innings. He led the league in ERA with a 2.00 mark. Add all that up, and yes, he won the KBO's pitching triple crown, earning him league MVP honors and the Choi Dong-won Award, the Korean equivalent of the Cy Young Award. He even took home a Gold Glove for good measure.

Fedde did it all with a revamped pitching arsenal, most notably introducing a sweeper and revamping his changeup into a split-fingered variant.

All of that success piqued MLB's interest only a year after its 30 teams had little to no interest in Fedde. The White Sox, sensing a potential bargain, landed him on a two-year deal. It didn't help them become anything close to a playoff team, but it ended up netting them some precious prospects as they dive into another rebuilding cycle.