The Atlanta Braves made two noteworthy moves over the weekend, placing reliever Aaron Bummer on the injured list and parting ways with starter Erick Fedde. One of the few moves the Braves made ahead of this year's trade deadline was to acquire Fedde from the St. Louis Cardinals in hopes of finding an innings eater.
Instead, the veteran displayed all of the same issues that caused the team to seek out another option in the first place.
Fedde isn't the first starter the team has parted ways with; Carlos Carrasco was jettisoned as well before being brought back on a minor league deal. It would be a bit of a surprise to see Fedde take this path with Atlanta's rotation starting to grow healthier. Veteran Chris Sale is expected to make his return to the rotation this coming weekend, giving much-needed support.
Add in the fact that Fedde hasn't shown any flashes of being the productive option he once was, and it is clearly time to turn the page. For Atlanta, the former Cardinal was only brought in due to unexpected desperation from injuries. There was a time when every piece of the Braves' Opening Day rotation was sitting on the injured list.
Failed Braves Addition Erick Fedde Hits Free Agency after Recent Struggles
Fedde isn't going ot have an issue finding a new landing spot if the veteran is willing to accept a minor league deal. The resume is impressive enough to continue to earn the starter chances even with the recent struggles. However, this will soon come to an end if Fedde isn't able to string together productive starts sometime over the next year.
Since arriving from the Cards, Fedde went 1-2 with a 8.10 ERA and 1.843 ERA while allowing a career-worst 11.6 hits per nine innings in five games (4 starts).
For Atlanta, there simply wasn't a viable reason not to go ahead and turn the page on the struggling trade addition. Fredde isn't getting the job done and hasn't been able to eat innings even while struggling. This was the expectation that even if Fedde wasn't giving you quality starts that the veteran would save wear and tear on the bullpen by finding ways to pitch deep into games and eat innings.
This hasn't been the case, and left no reasonable recourse except for Atlanta to release the struggling starter. For Fedde, it is going to be difficult to earn another MLB opportunity at this point in the season.
We are deep enough in the year that playoff rosters and failed teams are fully in focus, leaving Fedde little chance of finding his way into another opportunity before the 2026 season.