Cardinals Must Trade Veteran Hurler To Pave Way For Budding Top Prospect

The St. Louis Cardinals have a youth-laden roster with several veterans who might be blocking opportunities for youngsters to develop as big leaguers.

For instance, Cardinals superstar Nolan Arenado remaining at third base is preventing 25-year-old slugger Nolan Gorman from seeing playing time. Unfortunately, the 10-time Gold Glove defender's full no-trade clause has made it nearly impossible for St. Louis to move him.

Gorman isn't the only Cardinals rising star waiting for his turn to show the league what he's capable of. Perhaps a trade involving a St. Louis starting pitcher could be imminent.

"Veterans Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde have expiring contracts," St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeff Gordon wrote Wednesday when discussing the Cardinals' plans for the future. "They don’t appear to have a future here. But getting them back on track would have value, either to keep the Cardinals in the playoff chase or to create trade leverage. That is especially true for Fedde, whose team-friendly contract could make him appealing to a contender willing to spend prospect capital for pitching depth. Trading Fedde would open a spot for Michael McGreevy, who is overdue to pitch regularly in the majors. Of course, no team will covet Fedde while he is getting shelled ... so yeah, there is work to do."

McGreevy has logged an 8-3 record with a 3.72 ERA, 78-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .271 batting average against and a 1.24 WHIP in 75 innings pitched for Triple-A Memphis this season.

The 25-year-old debuted last July with the Cardinals and fared well at the big-league level. However, St. Louis' rotation is full with ace Sonny Gray, Andre Pallante, Matthew Liberatore, Mikolas and Fedde.

Considering that Fedde will become a free agent this fall and has performed poorly this season -- posting a 3-9 record with a 4.83 ERA, 58-to-46 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .263 batting average against and a 1.47 WHIP in 98 2/3 innings pitched for the Cardinals -- St. Louis is believed to be shopping his contract ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.

Although Fedde's lackluster performance this year might deter teams from trading for him, he's owed an economical $7.5 million salary for 2025, so contenders looking to boost the back of their rotation for an inexpensive price could be interested.

It's encouraging to see that McGreevy continues to excel at the minor-league level, despite waiting patiently for his opportunity to return to the Cardinals' rotation. It shouldn't be long before the youngster returns to the show.

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