Cubs Should Go After Hated Rival's Former Star Pitcher After Shocking DFA

The Chicago Cubs have long been expected to be one of baseball's most aggressive teams at next week's trade deadline, especially when it comes to upgrading their pitching staff.

With a championship lineup but a rotation which is thin at best, as things currently stand it will be tough to make a deep run in October against what is a loaded National League.

The Cubs would love to go out and land another ace to join the top of the rotation. How realistic that is to materialize over the next five or six days remains to be seen. As has been the case throughout the process, the demand for starting pitching is much higher than the supply.

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If Chicago has to get creative in finding another arm -- which looks like it will be the case -- their most hated rival may have just thrown them a lifeline.

On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals made headlines when they designated right-hander Erick Fedde for assignment during what has been a rough stretch for the veteran even though he entered this season coming off the best campaign of his career in 2024.

Fedde's 5.22 ERA and 1.505 WHIP are not completely horrific, but his 13.25 ERA and 2.49 WHIP in the last five starts certainly is, and why the Cardinals decided to cut bait.

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Though the recent stretch is extremely concerning, it's not out of the realm of possibility that it's being caused by a mechanical issue which could be tweaked upon a change of scenery.

Less than a calendar year ago, Fedde was coming off a stretch of 21 starts with the Chicago White Sox with a 3.11 ERA before being traded to St. Louis and finishing the year strong there too. With a 3.30 ERA and 1.162 WHIP to finish the year with a bWAR of 5.6, the 32-year-old was extremely valuable.

By acquiring Fedde, the Cubs would be taking virtually zero risk while betting on his potential upside to at the very least be a back of the rotation fill-in option.

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If it doesn't work out, then no harm is done.

Depending on what the market looks like over the next couple of days, a cheap insurance plan like Fedde could be exactly what Chicago ends up with. But even if they are able to acquire someone legit, landing Fedde on some sort of contract could make a ton of sense.

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