The Chicago White Sox finally made a big trade yesterday when veteran pitcher Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham went to the St. Louis Cardinals and closer Michael Kopech went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The White Sox got an underwhelming return in the deal given how well Fedde was pitching this season and being on a team-friendly deal that has him under club control next season.
Three prospects, while all are promising with high ceilings, is not exactly a return fans had hoped for to get back for Fedde especially since he is going to the Cardinals and St. Louis is not sending a single prospect to Chicago.
In fact, the White Sox are sending the Cardinals cash, most likely to cover the bonus Pham gets for being traded.
The quality the Sox got looks nice, but volume would have been good too considering Fedde is so valuable to a team's ability to win this season.
It also is not a good look that the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds got equal or better value in deals involving veteran pitchers who are performing worse than Fedde.
The Blue Jays got three prospects for Yusei Kikuchi whose bWAR is barely above zero.
Erick Fedde:
— Josh Nelson - Sox Machine (@soxmachine_josh) July 30, 2024
4.6 WAR via Baseball-Reference
Yusei Kikuchi:
0.2 WAR via Baseball-Reference https://t.co/MSWbYuvhJV
The Reds got young outfielder Joey Wiemer and pitcher Jakob Junis for pitcher Frankie Montas. Montas is making $14 million and has a $20 million option for next season.
That is not exactly an affordable deal for the small-market Milwaukee Brewers compared to the $7.5 million Fedde is making this season and next. On top of that, Montas is struggling this season.
Really don't like this trade. #Brewers https://t.co/5G4AFnXqD8
— Steve Fifer (@SparkyRadio) July 30, 2024
The Reds get a player in Wiemer, who was one of the Crew's top five prospects last year, and Junis who can throw at the big-league level. Wiemer's swing needs work, but he is the type of prospect close to the majors that has the talent to be an impact bat.
He was what the Sox were looking for and now he goes to the Reds. Miguel Vargas is very much like Wiemer in that he is a former top-five prospect who must find a way to hit in the majors. At the same time, the White Sox could have spread out their assets and possibly gotten better returns such as the Blue Jays and Reds got.
However, Pham was most likely only going to get a young, "scratch-off" prospect as he did last year. Kopech has been inconsistent all year, so maybe batching them was the only way for the Sox to get prospects with legit high-ceiling potential.
Full trade thoughts:
— Dylan (@NotCease) July 29, 2024
We all knew Fedde, Kopech, and Pham were getting traded soon. Let’s not act like they weren’t.
Did anyone REALLY expect Pham, a 36 year old 102 wRC+ hitter with -3 OAA in the OF, and Kopech, who’s value has never been lower than right now, to bring back…
Still, the optics are not good when the Sox have to add two more players to get three prospects for a deal that includes Fedde while the Jays easily got the same package for a less valuable pitcher.