One of the biggest moves of the trade deadline was the St. Louis Cardinals landing Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham in a three-way trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox.
However, it almost didn't turn out that way. According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Minnesota Twins were offering a large package for Fedde, but the White Sox turned it down due to not wanting to deal within their own division.
"I think you get to that point and you say 'these are the guys we want to go on' and the White Sox had enough interest around the league. Erick Fedde, I know he was maybe not the highest-end guy but with that extra year, this is probably one of the two or three most consequential players traded," Hayes said. "It's unfortunate because I do think the Twins have an interesting system one through six and there are some depth guys that could easily match some of those depth guys the White Sox got for the Dodgers."
For context, Minnesota has Luke Keaschall, Zebby Matthews, and Gabriel Gonzalez in their minor league system. They could have easily pulled off a deal with the White Sox and ultimately received a better package than what they got from the Dodgers.
Ultimately though, the White Sox backed out and decided they didn't want to trade within the division, which is understandable to a degree. But they ultimately cost themselves a chance at a better package. And with the White Sox years away from contention, it wouldn't have been too big of a blow to deal Fedde to a team in the American League Central.
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