As reported by John Denton, Mark Feinsand, and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, the Tigers and Guardians have each expressed curiosity in buying and selling for Cardinals beginning pitchers Erick Fedde and Steven Matz. Each pitchers gave the impression to be probably commerce candidates getting into the offseason, however that is the primary report back to hyperlink both pitcher to particular suitors.
Because the Cardinals look to shed payroll and kickstart a retooling effort, nearly all of their veteran gamers appear to be potential commerce chips. Nolan Arenado has generated a lot of the excitement to date, however his contract isn’t the one one St. Louis may look to dump. After Arenado, the subsequent highest-paid gamers on the roster are Sonny Grey, Miles Mikolas, and Willson Contreras. Nevertheless, all three have no-trade clauses of their contracts, and all three have expressed a want to remain in St. Louis. Thus, Matz and Fedde may very well be the subsequent gamers who president of baseball operations John Mozeliak seems to flip. These trades wouldn’t include fairly as a lot wage reduction – Matz will make $12.5MM and Fedde will make $7.5MM in 2025 – however they may be simpler to tug off. Not solely is much less cash concerned, however neither Matz nor Fedde has the fitting to reject a commerce.
Any commerce involving Matz would probably be a wage dump. In different phrases, the Cardinals mustn’t count on to get any notable gamers again in return. As he enters his age-34 marketing campaign, Matz is coming off one of many worst seasons of his profession. In 12 video games (seven begins), he pitched to a 5.08 ERA and 4.63 SIERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was the bottom it’s ever been. To make issues worse, he missed 4 months of the yr nursing a decrease again pressure.
Whereas Matz has been a productive beginning pitcher within the not-so-distant previous, he has struggled with accidents and inconsistency all through his profession. He has frolicked on the IL in each season since his rookie yr and has by no means thrown sufficient innings to qualify for the ERA title. His 3.86 ERA and 4.19 SIERA over 105 innings in 2023 are a reminder that he is usually a helpful contributor to a giant league rotation. But, as Matz enters his mid-thirties, considerations about his sturdiness and potential decline will solely improve. All that to say, his $12.5MM wage might be greater than he may command on the open market. If the Cardinals need one other group to tackle that wage, they received’t be capable of ask for a lot in return.
As for Fedde, the Cardinals wouldn’t get as a lot wage reduction in a commerce, however they may carry again some expertise to assist in 2025 and past. Though Fedde has had damage and inconsistency issues of his personal, he’s two years youthful than Matz and coming off of two consecutive sturdy seasons. He additionally comes $5MM cheaper.
Fedde was little greater than an innings eater for the Nationals from 2017-22. Nevertheless, he reinvented himself within the KBO in 2023, successful the MVP Award and signing a two-year, $15MM cope with the White Sox final winter. Whereas he wasn’t an MVP-caliber participant in 2024, he produced what was simply the most effective season of his MLB profession, pitching 177 1/3 innings with a 3.30 ERA and 4.19 SIERA. He didn’t excel in anyone space, however he restricted walks and onerous contact at better-than-average charges and tossed a minimum of 5 innings in 27 of his 31 begins. If he repeats that efficiency in 2025, he’d be an improve for almost each contending group’s beginning rotation.
So far as contending groups go, Cleveland and Detroit have two of the weaker rotations. With Shane Bieber nonetheless recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure, the Guardians solely have three locks for the rotation: Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Ben Full of life. The Tigers are in an identical place with a number of query marks after Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson, and Alex Cobb. With that stated, it’s nonetheless stunning to see these two groups linked to Fedde and Matz. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported in the course of the Winter Conferences that the Tigers weren’t “planning to pursue further beginning pitchers” after signing Cobb. He quotes normal supervisor Jeff Greenberg, who stated “I believe we’re most likely accomplished for now.”
As for the Guardians, it’s a query of cash as standard. It’s particularly uncommon to see this group spend important cash on pitching as a result of they’ve accomplished such a very good job of growing gifted arms internally. Thus, Matz, specifically, appears to be an sudden goal; he would grow to be the highest-paid pitcher on the roster. Nevertheless, a cope with Cleveland may make extra sense if St. Louis is prepared to eat some wage to obtain a extra gifted return bundle.
