A Mets-White Sox trade to upgrade the rotation

The New York Mets have suddenly found themselves thinking of ways the team can get better at the trade deadline should they decide to be buyers. But they still have work to do to get to where they want to be.

They have the perfect target to add to a rotation that ranks below average in Erick Fedde. Fedde signed a 2-year, $15 million deal with the Chicago White Sox this offseason and the Mets were considered a finalist for it, and with the White Sox undergoing one of the worst seasons in MLB history, now would be the time for the Mets to pounce and take advantage by adding a pitcher who has resurrected his career.

The Mets would get needed help to the starting rotation, while the White Sox get a quality prospect that might be locked out of a Mets starting outfield spot if he stayed with the Mets.

This Mets mock trade represents an upgrade in the rotation and taking on the contract would yield a lesser prospect return.

Erick Fedde has looked like a totally different pitcher since he basically reset his career. He had an unsuccessful career with the Nationals and hadn't received a major league contract offer prior to the 2023 season, so he had took elsewhere. That somewhere was the KBO in Korea. In 2023, He won 20 games in 30 starts, was the KBO league MVP, and he earned a trip back to MLB to prove his worth again in America with multiple teams. He signed with the White Sox, but the Mets were considered a finalist.

Despite the historically bad 2024 campaign in the South Side of Chicago, Fedde is 5-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 15 starts and 87.1 innings pitched with the White Sox and is likely going to be moved to a contender prior to the trade deadline.

The Mets rotation needs somebody who walks less people and can go deeper into games to help out a taxed bullpen. Fedde is a great candidate for that. He has walked just 6.3 percent of batters, which is lower than every Mets pitcher who started at least one game this year except Christian Scott (5.4 percent). He has also averaged 5.8 innings per start, which is better than every Mets starting pitcher other than Luis Severino (6.0 innings).

The Mets have tradeable assets in their farm system to get him, as their farm system is better now than it was last year. Acquiring him now proves that the Mets think they can make the playoffs where anything can happen under the new playoff format. At the same time, it would be more proof that the Mets are becoming a forward-thinking organization under David Stearns. Fedde's contract, which has him making $7.5 million both this year and next, would be a coup if he keeps his level of pitching that high.

The team would take on the salary cost without hesitation thanks to Steve Cohen's deep pockets, and could take advantage of Jerry Reinsdorf's penny pinching ways.