This was probably not what the Cardinals had in mind when they decided to hold on to Erick Fedde going into this season. But after today’s game, the club announced that it has traded Fedde to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Although Fedde had Tommy John surgery before the 2014 draft, the Washington Nationals drafted him out of UNLV #18 overall in the first round anyway, and paid him $2.5111 million signing bonus, $365,500 over slot. Unable to pitch until June 2015, he was touted as having a mid 90s fastball that hopped late, plus good command of a slider and change. That, in addition to a 6’4”, 200 pound starter’s frame, projected him at least as a back-end starter.
The Nationals added Fedde to the roster on July 30, 2017, and he bounced up and down three times to make spot starts before his season ended in early September with forearm stiffness. His second season in 2018 was cut short in mid August due to shoulder stiffness. Due to injuries and ineffectiveness, Fedde could not secure a steady rotation job with the club until 2021, being optioned to the minor leagues every year from 2017-2020. He was not on the postseason roster for the 2019 Nationals club that defeated the Cardinals in the NLCS and the Astros in the World Series.
One thing Fedde was noted for in his tenure with the Nationals was that his breaking pitch was tough to classify, and even Fedde himself called it his breaking pitch. But at times, it wouldn’t come out consistently. He did well with the version that was closer to the slider, but the version that was closer to a curveball got crushed. The Nats gave Fedde 27 starts in both 2021 and 2022, but non-tendered him after the 2022 season, in which Fedde got lit up to the tune of a 129 DRA-, and had the worst chase rate in the game for pitchers who threw at least 100 innings that season. The knock on him over time was that his pitches blended together and looked too much alike.
Fedde then signed with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization, taking about a $1 million paycut down to a $1 million salary, which is highest foreign players are allowed to earn in that league. The KBO is a hitter’s league, and Fedde just dominated with a 20-6 record, 2.00 ERA, 2.38 FIP, and 209 strikeouts in 180.1 IP to only 35 walks. With a revamped sweeper and cutter, his performance earned him the KBO equivalents of both the Cy Young and MVP award, and allowed Fedde to parley that season into MLB comeback with a 2-year, $15 million deal with the Chicago White Sox. Fedde came to us at the deadline last season in the 3-way trade with the Dodgers that cost us Tommy Edman and got us Tommy Pham back.
Fedde actually pitched well in 2024, but just could not get anything going this year. This season is the worst he’s ever had so far in every way. He’s actually had higher ERAs in past seasons, but his strikeout rate has cratered to 14.1%, his groundball rate continued to go down from last season, and his walk rate went up crept back up toward his strikeout rate. Fedde wasn’t missing bats, was walking more guys, left the sinker up, couldn’t command that or the cutter that he fell in love with, and everything just got torched. At 20 starts with no WAR, the Cards had no choice but to just cut bait on Fedde. Fedde did have that nice six-hit complete game shutout against his former club on May 9 this season, but his last five starts from June 25 through July 22 were just ugly: 33 hits in 17.2 IP, 26 runs allowed, 11 walks, 8 strikeouts and 8 homers.
There’s obviously not too much to talk about on the return here. I can share a bit about the rules on these kind of deals. The clubs have six months from the date of the agreement to name the player to be named, unless they agree to decide it at an earlier date. Any deal involving a player to be named later is required to list a stated cash consideration as an alternative to the player. Thus, every deal for a PTBNL is always for a PTBNL or cash considerations. The player can not be someone who was designated for assignment by the Braves at the time the player is named. And the player can’t be someone on the Braves’ active list, regular season or postseason, between the date of the trade and the date the player is named. Lots of times these guys are recent draftees, someone from the Complex League or the Dominican Summer League, but not always.
The Cards are also reported by all the outlets to be agreeing to pay what I’ve seen described as the majority of the rest of Fedde’s salary. What I would bet happened is that the clubs agreed that the Braves would pay Fedde the pro-rated major league minimum for the rest of the season, with the Cards picking up the rest of the tab. I do not know for sure. I can show you how the money situation will work if I’m correct. First, you divide his 2025 salary, which is $7.5 million, by the number of days of the regular season, which this season is 186. That comes out to $40,323 (actually $40,322.58, but they round to the nearest integer). That’s how much Fedde makes per day on his $7.5 million salary. Next, you need to take the major league minimum salary, which is $760,000 this season, and divide that by 186. That comes to $4,086 per day on the major league minimum.
The date of the assignment being today, the Braves would have to start paying Fedde $4,086 per day starting tomorrow and ending on the last date of the regular season. And the Cards will be required to pay Fedde $36,237 per day ($40,323 total per day minus $4,086 major league minimum per day starting tomorrow and ending on the last date of the regular season. With 63 days left in the regular season (days, not games), the Braves will pay $257,418, and the Cards will owe $2,282,931. This of course shows that Fedde is owed $2,540,349 for the rest of the season.
Fedde was due to be a free agent after the season. The Cards’ 40-man roster is at 39, and went to that number on July 23, the date the Cards designated him for assignment.
