Cardinals' Erick Fedde Gives Front Office Two Ugly Choices

Despite a resurgent season that no one saw coming, not all surprises for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2025 have been positive ones.

Sunday’s 11-0 shellacking by the bats of the Chicago Cubs was a reminder of one of St. Louis’ biggest disappointments this year: 32-year-old right-hander Erick Fedde.

Fedde only lasted 1 1/3 innings before manager Oli Marmol went to the bullpen. Fedde left the game with three earned runs, four walks, and zero strikeouts. Of the 53 pitches he threw, more than half (27) were balls.

Fedde is now 3-9 on the season with a 4.79 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, and just 57 strikeouts in 94 innings pitched (18 starts).

Not surprisingly, Cardinals fans are shaking their heads that St. Louis gave up Tommy Edman to get Fedde last July. But beyond the bad trade from 2024, Fedde’s recent performances have been so alarming that he’s virtually made himself untradeable in 2025. This is a major issue for president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, who may have viewed Fedde as his primary trade chip given the no-trade clauses held by Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, and Nolan Arenado.

At this point, it’s difficult to call Fedde anything resembling a trade chip, unless Mozeliak is interested in getting next to nothing in return.

Meanwhile, Marmol is tasked with working with — or around — Fedde’s current issues. Following Sunday’s loss, Marmol addressed Fedde’s struggles (per The Athletic’s Katie Woo): "We'll use tomorrow as an off day to take a step back and figure out what that looks like. He has to find a solution to what's going on. ... Continuing to go down this road doesn't seem beneficial at the moment."

At this point, even one or two solid starts for Fedde before July 31 wouldn’t move the needle on his value. 

Mozeliak will have to either accept a depressing return for Fedde on the market or simply let Fedde play out the season and walk in free agency.