The Milwaukee Brewers are going to try to see if another former Chicago White Sox player can revive his career in Brew City.
Andrew Vaughn has become an unexpected hero in Milwaukee after the White Sox traded him to the Brewers for Aaron Civale.
The Brewers are now going to see if they can pull Erick Fedde's career out of its current tailspin.
Erick Fedde joins the Brewers
Fedde signed with the Brewers and was immediately thrust into action on Wednesday after being released by the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
He completed 4.1 innings and allowed just two runs in a long relief role. That's likely the role he will stay in for the first place Brewers.
The last 30 hours have been a whirlwind for Erick Fedde, who signed a one-year deal with the Brewers this afternoon then took the mound for 4.1 innings against the Diamondbacks. pic.twitter.com/W7GJx13Hll
— Andrew Wagner (@ByAndrewWagner) August 28, 2025
Milwaukee is Fedde's third team this season after flaming out with both the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves.
Ever since being traded at the 2024 deadline, Fedde has looked nothing like the effective pitcher we saw on the South Side.
Erick Fedde fell off after leaving the White Sox
Fedde had a 3.11 ERA, 3.77 FIP, and a 4.6 bWAR in 21 starts for the White Sox last season. He turned out to be one of GM Chris Getz's best free-agent signings after being plucked from the KBO.
Fedde was so bad in six seasons with the Washington Nationals (a 5.41 ERA in that span) that he had to go to South Korea to revive his big league career. He then won the KBO's equivalent of the Cy Young and MVP awards in the same season and Getz astutely signed Fedde to a two-year deal.
Getz was able to leverage Fedde's team-friendly contract and solid production to get Miguel Vargas and two other promising prospects in a three-team deal with the Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It looked like the Cardinals would come out as the winner of that deal since they got Fedde without having to give the White Sox a single player. Instead, Fedde started to decline.
He had a 3.72 ERA and a 4.05 FIP in 10 starts for the Cardinals. Fedde then posted a 5.22 ERA and a 5.11 FIP in 20 starts this season before the Cardinals designated him for assignment and traded him to Atlanta. Fedde then posted an 8.10 ERA in just five appearances with the Braves and was let go.
The Brewers get bullpen depth with Fedde
The Brewers swooped in to sign Fedde. The Crew needed some bullpen reinforcements after closer Trevor Megill and long-reliever DL Hall recently went on the 15-day IL.
It would not shock me if Fedde works out in Milwaukee. They are likely going to use him in a long relief role, where he will not be exposed to going through the order multiple times.
Fedde may still be asked to start, but the Brewers don't usually ask their starters to go deep into ballgames with a talented and deep bullpen at their disposal.
The Brewers also have a reputation for fixing pitchers that other teams have given up on, thanks to their state-of-the-art pitching lab.
A Fedde revival would be different than Andrew Vaughn's
The White Sox gave up on Andrew Vaughn after he hit .189 this season. The team needed a veteran starter to eat up some innings. When Aaron Civale demanded a trade out of Milwaukee, the Sox had no trouble trading Vaughn, especially since he had already been demoted to Triple-A Charlotte before the deal.
Andrew Vaughn has made the White Sox look foolish for making that trade. He has hit .289 with an .869 OPS and nine (9) home runs since breaking into Milwaukee's lineup on July 7 (although Vaughn is hitting .208 over the past 15 days). Civale has been terrible for the White Sox with a 5.37 ERA.
Getz did look bad initially for trading Fedde to the Cardinals without getting a single player back from St. Louis. But the three-team trade has aged well for the White Sox with Vargas emerging as a core player. The Sox have received no such benefit from trading Vaughn, making these pretty different scenarios.
I do hope Fedde finds some success in Milwaukee. He was one of the few bright spots at 35th and Shields in what was a very dark 2024 season. Let's hope the Brewers can help keep his big league career from fading into nothing.