Cardinals Earn Extremely High Praise After Surprising Trade Deadline

St. Louis fans certainly should be excited about the club after the deadline

Feb 26, 2021; Jupiter, Florida, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals logo on the stadium at Roger Dean Stadium during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports / Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals entered the 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline with some clear needs.

St. Louis desperately needed to add to the starting rotation, add a right-handed bat, and help the bullpen. The Cardinals were able to accomplish all of these things without mortgaging the future. St. Louis traded Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson away and ended up landing Erick Fedde for the rest of this as well as the 2025 campaign, Tommy Pham, and reliever Shawn Alexander.

Overall, it was a great deadline for St. Louis, and MLB.com's Will Leitch agreed and ranked the Cardinals as having the best deadline of any Major League Baseball team.

"The Cardinals, with a negative run differential and having lost a couple of series in a row, came into the Deadline hanging around the (National League) Wild Card chase but with three glaring holes: They were short a starting pitcher, they needed bullpen help, and they’re awful against left-handed pitching (the team’s .633 OPS against southpaws ranks 29th in MLB)," Leitch said. "Well, they seemingly went out and filled all three holes without giving up much of anything they’ll miss this year … or even in the future.

"Erick Fedde is one of the top three starting pitchers moved at the Deadline, and he’s signed for next year as well. Tommy Pham, at the age of 36, still crushes lefties (.848 OPS against them this year). And Shawn Alexander, while maybe not the Rays reliever they might have preferred, is a bullpen filler they need for an already-exhausted reliever core. And all they had to give up was Tommy Edman – who hasn’t played an inning this season and who plays positions the Cardinals already have filled – Dylan Carlson – who never quite figured it out as a Cardinal – and two lower-tier prospects."

St. Louis has looked like it could be a playoff team and its successful deadline should help that fact even more down the stretch.

More MLB: NL East Club Reportedly Looking To Acquire Young Cardinals Outfielder