Yankees Linked To Cardinals $7.5 Million Starter After Gerrit Cole Scare

Do the Cardinals have a trade up their sleeve?

Aug 17, 2020; Bronx, New York, USA; A general view of rain falling on the New York Yankees logo on the first base dugout roof during a rain delay in the game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

There's a chance that the New York Yankees could be without the services of their top starting pitcher for the entire 2025 Major League Baseball season.

Gerrit Cole has an elbow injury and there have been rumors that he could need surgery. At this point, a return timeline or even the actual injury itself hasn't been shared. There's a chance that Cole could miss a big chunk if not all of the 2025 season, but until the team makes an announcement there's no way to be sure.

Since the news of Cole's injury, potential replacement options have been speculated about across the league. The Athletic's Chris Kirschner even floated St. Louis Cardinals hurler Erick Fedde as a fit.

"If they wanted to keep their top prospects in-house, perhaps the Yankees could call the St. Louis Cardinals and see what it would take to land right-hander Erick Fedde," Kirschner said. "The Cardinals want to clear salary and go younger. Fedde is set to make $7.5 million this season and is coming off a season in which he had a 3.30 ERA to go along with encouraging metrics on his arsenal that the Yankees’ pitching coaches could maximize even further. The Yankees could acquire Fedde for one top-10 prospect and either a reliever or a top-20 prospect."

Fedde has one more year on his contract before he's set to hit free agency after the 2025 season comes to an end. He's been in plenty of trade rumors so it's not surprising the Yankees now are being mentioned as a landing spot after Cole's injury. The Cardinals wanted to make big trades, could this be an option?

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