The Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox combined for the first three-team trade of deadline season on Monday. The swap sends veteran utility player Tommy Edman and reliever Michael Kopech to the west coast; right-handed starter Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham to St. Louis; and outfielder Miguel Vargas and a pair of prospects to Chicago. In all, the deal sees seven different players change uniforms.
As is always the case, CBS Sports is spending the deadline providing instant analysis on all the biggest trades (and you can follow the latest moves and rumors here). That includes handing out a letter grade to each involved party. You can find all of that below, but first, here is the trade again in its entirety:
Dodgers grade: A
The Dodgers winning the National League West feels so inevitable that it’s been easy to overlook what a mess their infield situation has become. With Freddie Freeman out with a family emergency and Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, and Miguel Rojas nursing injuries, the Dodgers have had to resort to staffing their infield with Cavan Biggio, Nick Ahmed, Kiké Hernández, and Gavin Lux. That’s not what you’d expect from a venerable superteam.
Edman, 29, should improve the situation — this year, and next. He missed the entire season to date after undergoing wrist surgery last fall and has since had his return delayed by, among other things, wrist pain and a sprained ankle. When hearty and hale (and Edman is getting close as he recently began a rehab assignment), Edman is a slightly below-average hitter who gets by on contact and the occasional walk.
The Dodgers aren’t acquiring Edman for his switch-hitting bat (though he is more of an asset against left-handed pitching); they’re acquiring him for his secondary skills. He’s an above-average defender at whatever position you want him to play, including center field and shortstop. He’s also a quick, skilled baserunner who has averaged 29 stolen bases per 162 games for his career while succeeding on more than 86% of his attempts.
Edman is, essentially, a player who amasses most of his value when he’s not at the plate, but who is productive enough at the dish that there’s never a threat he’ll need to be benched. That makes him a nifty addition to a lineup that, though hardly short on star power, could use a little more length (and a little more health) heading into the stretch run.
Kopech, 28, was an obvious Dodgers target. He’s a 28-year-old with big-time stuff (including an upper-90s fastball and a cutter and slider) who has struggled with his command and the home-run ball. No team in baseball is more likely than the Dodgers to help Kopech optimize his game, be it by tweaking a pitch grip or his usage patterns, and turn into a shutdown late-inning reliever. As an added bonus: he’s under team control through next season.
Cardinals grade: A
The Cardinals burned through their share of financial resources over the winter to upgrade their rotation by signing Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn. Those moves have paid off, and now the Cardinals are again dipping into the market to land one last upgrade as they attempt to run down the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.
Fedde, 31, has been one of the most pleasant individual-level stories of the season. His return from South Korea has played out better than could have been reasonably expected: in 21 starts, he’s amassed a 3.11 ERA (133 ERA+) and a 3.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio. If you go off FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement model, Fedde has been roughly as productive as Corbin Burnes. Imagine predicting that to someone this time last year.
Fedde also happens to be one of the most Cardinals-coded pitchers available; it’s like they smashed Gibson and Lynn together then gave him Miles Mikolas’ overseas epiphany backstory. He pounds the zone with a broad arsenal that’s fronted by a 90-mph cutter and a 93-mph sinker. His best pitch is a sweeping slider that has held opponents to a .167 average and a 27.9% whiff rate. Might the Cardinals ask him to throw that pitch more often? We’ll find out soon enough. Fedde is probably not going to continue to perform this well, but he ought to fall somewhere on the mid-rotation starter spectrum.
Pham, 36, was assured a spot in a deadline trade from the moment he signed with the White Sox back in mid-April. He still minds the zone and can put a charge into the ball, though he’s best when deployed specifically against lefties. That ought to be no problem for the Cardinals, who can use him in place of either Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, or Lars Nootbaar. (If the Cardinals wanted to get really adventurous, they could even give him a little burn in center field — we just wouldn’t advise as much.)
For the cherry on top: Fedde is locked in through next year at a modest $7.5 million (or a few million less than Edman’s commitment). That’s a nice piece of business for a team whose ownership group seems unwilling to give them money for a bigger addition
White Sox grade: D
Give Chris Getz some credit: yes, he’s the architect of the most dreadful team MLB has seen in decades, but he nailed the Fedde signing. Did he do the same with the Fedde trade? Eh, we’re not so sure about that.
Vargas, 24, isn’t far removed from being a top prospect. Originally a third baseman, he’s since ended up in left field after testing at second and first base for the Dodgers in 2022-23. Vargas has since had his best run in the majors, posting a 108 OPS+ over 30 games. (He entered the season with a career mark of 74 over his first 99 games in the majors.) The best offensive comparison here might be to new Cubs third baseman Isaac Paredes. Vargas has a feel for contact and the zone, and he pulls a lot of his fly balls despite posting meager exit velocity tallies. (Indeed, both his average and 90th percentile exit velocities are below the league-average mark.) The differences between the two are: 1) Paredes has turned his oddball profile into a multi-year run of well-above-average hitting that makes him feel like a more sure thing; and 2) Vargas has a much thinner margin for error on account of his lesser defensive value.
If Vargas can tap into some of Paredes’ home-run glory — and we’ll see on that front — he has the potential to be an above-average hitter for the long haul. Of course, the downside is that he never slugs enough to be more than just a guy in left field. (For perspective, his current 108 wRC+ would be tied for 13th out of 22 qualifying left fielders.)
Albertus, 19, has hit .229/.317/.329 across 19 games in A-ball — his first exposure to life outside of the complex leagues. He’s shown a feel for contact and the zone alike, but there’s a real lack of present power in his game. Albertus has split action between shortstop and third base this season, with the latter seeming like his more likely long-term home. Teams generally like their third basemen to pack more of a wallop, suggesting Albertus may need to find more strength or more multi-positional value before he arrives to the majors.
Perez, 19, has far more pop than Albertus — he’s homered 21 times in his last 135 games dating back to last season. He’s spent this year in A-ball, hitting .264/.380/.420 while being two years the junior of his average competition. As with Albertus, the Dodgers had Perez trying his hand at various infield positions — second base being his primary spot, likely because of a just-OK arm.
Ultimately, how you feel about this return for the White Sox will come down to your confidence in Vargas making a leap and your expectations for what Fedde was bringing back. Perhaps we were too bullish on the latter, but we had our reasons — including this being a seller’s market and Fedde being both productive and cheap. For whatever it’s worth, three evaluators with rival teams we spoke to agreed that this package felt light. Maybe the White Sox see something — in Vargas, but also Albertus and Perez — that will allow them to get the last laugh.
