How Cardinals handled trade deadline: 2 additions, 1 reunion, Dylan Carlson gets fresh start (2024)

To address an immediate trend they saw developing in their bullpen, the Cardinals put the finishing touches on their fruitful trade deadline moves by continuing a longer-term trend for the organization when it comes to development of young outfielders.

A few minutes ahead of Tuesday’s deadline for deals in Major League Baseball, the Cardinals explored a handful of different moves for a seasoned reliever before sending switch-hitter Dylan Carlson to Tampa Bay for right-hander Shawn Armstrong. Carlson, only 25, becomes the latest in a parade of Cardinals outfielders to reach the majors as lauded prospects, see their playing time shrivel, struggle in limited opportunities, slip on the depth chart and then ultimately be traded elsewhere for what the team called “a fresh start.”

“It’s a little bittersweet when you have to trade somebody like a Dylan Carlson, but in all honesty, it just wasn’t working here,” said John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations. “We were going to be left with a tough decision on what to do. So ultimately give him a change of scenery (and) be able to address some of our needs.”

The Cardinals completed a frenzied 24 hours by addressing all three of the needs they advertised before plunging into the trade winds: a starter, a right-handed bat and a reliever.

During Monday’s burst of swaps, the Cardinals acquired starter Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox in a three-team deal that could ultimately include 10 players. The Cardinals sent Tommy Edman and a minor league pitcher to the Dodgers to complete their part of the agreement. Fedde will make his Cardinals debut Friday at Wrigley Field in a start against the Cubs. Pham joined the active roster Tuesday night and announced his return to the Cardinals, the team that drafted him, with a pinch-hit grand slam. He took the opening on the active roster created by Carlson’s trade.

The Cardinals then added Armstrong on deadline day after discussing various trades with other teams that included prospects for their reliever, not Carlson. The Rays deal was the most direct, Mozeliak said.

“I thought it was going to be an active deadline; I just didn’t know when it was going to break,” Mozeliak said of the league-wide flurry of deals. “I actually thought it started breaking earlier than I anticipated. So to see the activity (Monday) was helpful. I didn’t really want to go into today with just the panic mode.”

The Cardinals spent most of the day looking for a team interested in Carlson (they found several, such as the Angels and Nationals) or Giovanny Gallegos (they did not find one) and also bidding on relievers. A swirl of trades happened all around them, too.

In the closing minutes, the Dodgers worked out a trade with Detroit for former Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty that brings him back home to the ballpark where he grew up watching games. The Miami Marlins dealt big leaguers in eight trades over the past week, including six on deadline day. The Rockies were curiously involved in only one. And among the players moved for significant returns were former Cardinals outfielders Lane Thomas and Randy Arozarena.

Both had been in spots similar to Carlson — their innings limited or reduced, their roles adjusted by performance by another young outfielder and ultimately their time with the Cardinals over because the Cardinals decided they had little time give them.

“How do you define time?” Mozeliak said. “Usually, you do it in real short increments, which maybe isn’t the fairest way of doing it. Depending on where you are in the arc of your career, sometimes you get more than others. In this particular case, when he would get that opportunity, (he) never caught fire, never had that 4-for-4 day where, OK, I can build on this. That momentum never got going, and we are where we are.

“His time here wasn’t fair to him, and it wasn’t helping us.”

A first-round pick by the Cardinals in 2016, Carlson surged to the majors for his debut in 2020, and in 2021, he finished third for the National League Rookie of the Year. That summer, he hit 18 homers with a .780 on-base plus slugging percentage. In the years since, the Cardinals stiff-armed overtures at the trade deadline from teams interested in acquiring him, even as they positioned outfielders ahead of him on the depth start. This past spring, Carlson won the everyday job in center field with Edman on the injured list, and then, on the eve of opening day, injured his shoulder during a collision in center field.

He hit .198 in 59 games and 121 plate appearances since his return, and he tried to regain strength and health on the job with sporadic playing time. He slugged .345 the past three seasons with fewer home runs (13) since his rookie season than in his rookie season.

“I’ve been here since I was 17 years old with this organization, and it’s all I know,” Carlson said Tuesday before the trade was agreed upon. “There are certain aspects of the game that you have to play to go through. You don’t play every day, and it’s hard to get used to playing every day. There are different things that just go with it. I feel like I’m in a good position whatever happens.”

In two days, the Cardinals traded in separate deals the player they advertised all winter as their starting center fielder (Edman) and the player they named their starter in spring (Carlson). Michael Siani’s play at the position made such moves possible.

But needs made them necessary.

The Cardinals saw the tread starting to wear from mileage on the rotation and the bullpen. Fedde adds consistency and upside to the rotation and will allow the Cardinals to shift a starter, likely Andre Pallante, to the bullpen for more depth. Still, Mozeliak expressed concern that setup right-handers Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Fernandez were being used too often, and he needed, via trade, to provide an alternative. Armstrong has experience in that role, though he’s seen some of his numbers whiplash from a successful season a year ago (96th percentile in chase rate) to less so this season (64th percentile). He has a 5.40 ERA this season after a 2.52 ERA over his previous 107 innings for the Rays. He does have a 9.6 strikeouts-per-nine rate this season.

“We like his profile. We like his arm strength. We think he can be used in different scenarios throughout the game,” Mozeliak listed. “So really just another tool in the toolbox for (manager) Oli (Marmol) to use. I do think we’ve seen that pattern, right? Where certain guys are getting up in certain situations. That’s why we did the refresh. It was just time to bring some new faces and another new arm.”

Carlson will join the Rays in time to visit Busch Stadium next week for a series.

Although the trades are done — MLB no longer has the labyrinthine roster rules that permitted some deals after the deadline — the transactions are only beginning for the Cardinals. Before Wednesday’s game, they’ll have to option out a pitcher to clear a spot for scheduled starter Michael McGreevy. Before Thursday’s game, McGreevy will likely be optioned to clear a spot for Fedde, and another move will be needed to open a roster spot for Armstrong.

Unable to find a team to trade for Gallegos, the Cardinals will pass him through waivers to see if a team takes on his salary. If not, the Cardinals are likely to release him and pay the $500,000 buyout on an option and remainder of his $6 million salary. Mozeliak said his “hands were not tied” financially at the deadline when it came to taking on salary. They added $4.68 million in salary and sent out $3.08 million, while getting some cash from the Sox. Armstrong and Pham are free agents at season’s end. The Cardinals were eager to take on Fedde’s contract through 2025.

“We think these additions will make us better; now we go play baseball,” Mozeliak said. “Doesn’t matter what I think, right? Go out and prove it.”