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The move may yield short-term benefits as well.

“It gives us a real shot,” manager Oliver Marmol said of adding McGreevy officially to the rotation following his seven strong innings in a win Monday night at Coors Field. “It’s an upgrade. And the timing of it is good. Being able to come here and win Game 1 because he gives you seven is a big deal. Being able to insert that every fifth day — and let the other guys step up and do their job — is exciting.”

The Cardinals, steering toward selling at the July 31 trade deadline, designated right-hander Erick Fedde for assignment to remove him from the roster and buy time to either trade him or see if a team claims him and his salary off waivers. Fedde is owed the remainder of his $7.5 million salary, and the Cardinals must cover that if no other team picks him up.

The Cardinals had been exploring the market for interest in Fedde while also giving the right-hander starts to find his footing. He allowed six runs in three innings Tuesday and saw his ERA swell to 5.22 while losing his seventh consecutive decision.

A year after the Cardinals traded Tommy Edman in a three-team deal to get Fedde and bolster their rotation for a postseason run, they moved on from him to see if they could improve the rotation without him.

McGreevy, the Cardinals’ first-round pick and 18th overall in the 2021 draft, will end his shuttling between levels and start Sunday against San Diego.

As McGreevy joins the rotation, he also enters the mix of pitchers auditioning for the future rotation. That group is not limited to starts. Reliever Kyle Leahy, who had a strong 3 2/3 innings of relief in Tuesday’s loss to the Rockies, has emerged from the bullpen to generate intrigue as a starter. Leahy has the pitch mix of a starter with multiple breaking balls he can use and a sweeping slider that has a whiff of potential. He struck out a career-high seven on Tuesday night.

Marmol described how Leahy personifies the “runway” provided younger players because through turbulent results, he received playing time in 40 appearances to improve.

“That’s a perfect example of that,” the manager said. “In previous years, Leahy starts the way he starts and then hits a bump in the road where he can’t miss a bat, everything is in play, a lot of base hits and you end up optioning him just out of necessity of getting someone else up here. But we were able to stick with him and make adjustments in real time, and he’s worked so well with (pitching coach) Dusty (Blake) and now we’re starting to see the way he’s using his stuff.”

Marmol outlined how giving McGreevy a long stretch of starts in the majors should have the same benefits. It’s similar to Leahy out of the bullpen and what the team did a year ago with Andre Pallante and this season with Matthew Liberatore in the rotation. Instead of the cameo appearances in the majors when he arrives and leaves often within 48 hours, McGreevy will get extended time with major league coaches, weeks with fellow major league pitchers and ample chance to see how his stuff plays against major league hitters.

So far, the returns have been good on the latter.

In five games (four starts) this season, McGreevy is 2-1 with a 3.49 ERA. He has allowed fewer hits (26) than innings pitched (28 1/3), with 18 strikeouts. In nine big league games, McGreevy has a 2.81 ERA and two wins at Coors Field already.

“Growth is what comes to mind,” Marmol said when asked what McGreevy should take from the closing months of the season. “Every time he starts, it’s an opportunity for you to evaluate what he’s doing well. But also where adjustments could be made. This is a guy who takes to that really well. That is the exciting part — you get to build toward what’s possible for him each start.”

Prospect Wetherholt on a tear

Three games after a four-hit night raised his batting average to .500 at Class AAA, Cardinals top prospect JJ Wetherholt hit his second homer since being promoted to the top level of the Cardinals’ minor league organization. The infielder raised his slugging percentage since joining Triple-A Memphis to .800 with his home run Tuesday at AutoZone Park.

It has been an eventful month for Wetherholt with the promotion to the Redbirds, a leadoff double for the National League team as the Cardinals’ representative in the All-Star Futures Game and then a four-hit night when he returned to Memphis.

Twelve months after the Cardinals drafted him seventh overall, Wetherholt is batting .306 with a .428 on-base percentage and .928 OPS in 69 games at two levels this summer. The 22-year-old in his first full pro season is hitting .360 with a .448 on-base percentage in his first seven games at Class AAA. 

Winn, etc.

Shortstop Masyn Winn received an anti-inflammatory shot at the start of the All-Star break to address persisting soreness in his knee. He disclosed the treatment to FanDuel Sports Network reporter Jim Hayes and explained that he had been playing through the soreness for some time.

“It’s definitely something that nags at him,” Marmol said.

• The Cardinals’ broadcast partner, FanDuel Sports Network, will air five Class AAA Memphis games in the closing two months of the regular season, the outlet announced Wednesday. The games will be available on FanDuel Sports Midwest or the network’s app for all those who subscribe. The games that will be broadcast are Aug. 7 vs. Durham, Aug. 21 vs. Gwinnett, Sept. 4 vs. Rochester, and then Sept. 17 and 18 against St. Paul.

Rockies set record signing young Holliday

Ethan Holliday, the fourth overall selection in this month’s draft and son of Cardinals Hall of Famer Matt Holliday, finalized his agreement with the Colorado Rockies this past week and reset a record that had already been in the family.

The Rockies signed Holliday to a reported $9 million bonus, upping the highest bonus ever received by a pick out of high school. Jackson Holliday, Ethan’s older brother, set the record $8.19 million when he was the first overall pick in 2022. This year’s No. 1 pick, Oklahoma prep infielder Eli Willits, agreed to an $8.2 million bonus with the Nationals.

Ethan, a standout at Stillwater (Oklahoma) High and Baseball America’s prep player of the year, was drafted by the same team that first picked his father in the seventh round of the 1998 draft. The Cardinals scouted Ethan Holliday but with the fifth overall pick did not expect the latest Holliday to go pro to get past the Rockies to them.