For the Cardinals, getting a new starting pitcher creates as many questions as it answers. But with Tony La Russa coming to town for Friday’s 2004 reunion, this situation hearkens back to one of his classic quotes: “Worry about tomorrow tomorrow.” In other words, go get the guy — and then figure out how everything else, such as the roles of Lance Lynn and Andre Pallante or maybe Miles Mikolas, falls into place.
The 4.40 ERA by Cardinals starters ranks 22nd in Major League Baseball. They’ve thrown the ninth-most pitches in baseball — and allowed the ninth-most home runs.
Now, for sure, the starting pitching has been strong in stretches. And they’ve currently got five healthy guys. But a trade for a starter would likely bolster the rotation, which will make many critical starts in the final two months.
With the trade deadline coming Tuesday, the Cards (53-49) are right in the wild-card mix. Could come down to a game or two. And St.
Louis sits six back from first-place Milwaukee, which awaits news about the severity of Christian Yelich’s back injury. He’s hitting .315 with a .
909 on-base plus slugging percentage. If he’s out for a while, that could sway the National League Central Division. Now, the Cardinals also need help in two other areas more glaring than the rotation.
They need another reliable reliever . And they need a guy who can hit left-handed pitching. As for the starting pitcher, you can debate whether it leans more toward “necessity” or “luxury,” but the fact is, these guys must make the playoffs (because you can’t go two years in a row of missing an expanded playoff field).
So control what you can control and acquire quality guys. Who are the guys? Well, the Post-Dispatch and other media outlets have linked the Cardinals to names such as Erick Fedde of the White Sox and Tyler Anderson of the Angels. Either hurler would help.
Fedde, 31, is having a career rejuvenation in his first season back pitching in the U.S. after a season in South Korea.
He turned a 2.00 ERA into 22 wins — 20 on the mound, pus two more when he took home the KBO's equivalent of Cy Young and MVP honors. Prior to his stint in Korea, he'd never had an MLB ERA lower than 4.
29 — and this year it’s 2.98, buoyed by his success with a new sweeper (opponents hit just .195 against it) and a new change-up grip he picked up in the KBO.
The former Nationals right-hander is in a new organization with Chicago and has found winning ways (7-3), while his team, overall, has not. He’s under contract for 2025, as is Anderson, so that answers a Cardinals need immediately. And if anything, Fedde’s nickname should inspire some cleverly named pastas on The Hill (“Feddeccini”).
The left-hander Anderson handles opponents with his off-speed stuff. He draws weak contact and gobbles up innings (fifth-most in the American League). An All-Star this year and in 2022, he currently sports the league’s seventh-best ERA (2.
91). And he’s 34, so he’d fit right in with the staff of his contemporaries. Next comes minor details such as who will the Cardinals offer, who will the other teams want — and who else are the other teams negotiating with? I sometimes find fans flabbergasted that the Cardinals didn’t get this guy or that guy, as if the guy’s team should’ve felt it an honor to upgrade the St.
Louis Cardinals and not some other team. As for who to trade, the Cards have an enticing young catcher in Ivan Herrera (except for when he actually plays catcher) and a talented-but-lost switch-hitter in Dylan Carlson. A healthy Tommy Edman makes things very interesting if he returns soon — I wouldn’t be afraid to trade him, though teams might be skeptical considering they haven’t seen him play in 2024.
No, for the record, you don’t trade Jordan Walker. But as for other minor leaguers, there are a couple of enticing Class AAA names such as Gordon Graceffo and Thomas Saggese, who’s hitting well in July. And the Cards do have some intriguing guys pitching in Class AA and below, but one has to think that the Tink Hences of the world are off limits as they’re the starters of the future.
OK, so what about the starters of the present? Sonny Gray and Kyle Gibson are your Nos. 1 and 2. After that, someone would have to go to the bullpen, in some capacity, unless the Cardinals can work out a six-man rotation, but that can cause problems with routines.
The easy answer to all of this would be to move Pallante, previously a reliever, back to the bullpen. Pallante’s the one without the big starter contract. But man, Pallante has a 3.
42 ERA in his nine starts, and lately, he’s pitching longer into games. Lynn has a 4.17 ERA, which is better than I thought he’d have.
And four of his past five starts have been really good. Overall, right-handed hitters have a .625 OPS against the righty Lynn, while left-handed hitters have an .
825 OPS. Something to consider if he is to become a reliever — though I just can’t see the Cardinals doing that. And really, it’s quite hard to see them putting Mikolas in the bullpen too.
In June and July, Mikolas has been either awesome or awful, one or the other. But this man has always been a starter. He's paid to start.
So what do you do? Go get Fedde or Anderson and figure out tomorrow tomorrow. Maybe that means Pallante to the ’pen for the short-term? Whatever the move, the reality is: The 2024 season is pivotal for this franchise, so they might as well bolster everywhere they can at the trade deadline..
