The law of supply and demand doesn’t just help set prices in the world of economics. It also applies to the MLB trade market. For the White Sox, the demand for one of their starting pitchers just went up.
Over the weekend the Angles placed left-hander Patrick Sandoval on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow strain. It was later revealed that he had a high-grade flexor tear and torn ulnar collateral ligament which will require Tommy John surgery to repair. Marlins southpaw Jesus Luzardo also hit the 60-day IL after the club announced he was being shut down due to a lumbar stress reaction.
The pair of pitchers marked two potential trade candidates, in a market that is already lacking sellers. Under the MLB’s new wild card format. Currently, 22 of the 30 teams in the MLB are either holding a spot in the playoffs or within five games of a wild card spot. In the National League alone, there are only two teams who are not at least within three games of a wild card spot.
The increased parody has led to more teams looking to buy at the deadline, and healthy starters are going to be a hot commodity. Luzardo and Sandoval are each controllable arms that would have presumably garnered some interest. There are a few other rental options who are set to be free agents at the end of the season such as Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, and Luis Severino. All three could change uniforms before the season is up. However, the list of controllable starting pitching is much shorter.
Enter Erick Fedde. The 31-year-old right-hander still has a year of control and is only owed $7.5 million per year. After a one-year stint in South Korea’s KBO, Fedde has returned to the MLB with a new pitch repertoire. He is now producing some of the best results of his career. In 16 starts he has a 3.05 ERA, 3.5 WAR, 22.1% strikeout rate, and 6.2% walk rate. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale has already floated Fedde’s name as a potential trade chip, and with two more arms suddenly off the market, the number of teams in the market for his services may have increased.
