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The St. Louis Cardinals may be selling at the trade deadline. This standout reliever could be a valuable trade chip.
The St. Louis Cardinals are playing well to start the 2026 season. Entering Wednesday’s series finale against the Miami Marlins, they were 14-9 and sat just 1 1/2 games back of first place in the National League Central.
Despite their hot start, they are still rebuilding and focusing on the future, and their approach likely won’t change. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom has made clear that the Cardinals are thinking long-term.
That could lead to them selling at the trade deadline, and they have plenty of trade candidates that could help contending teams out. One of them is left-hander JoJo Romero.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report listed Romero as one of the top trade candidates and had the Baltimore Orioles as a potential landing spot.
“Romero isn’t a flamethrowing strikeout machine, but he gets the job done all the same,” Miller wrote. “His sinker/sweeper/changeup arsenal is quite effective at inducing groundouts. There is a whole host of contenders who could use a high-leverage pitcher who has held opposing left-handed hitters to a .537 OPS in his career.
“Just for fun, let’s call our shot with this one: Romero gets traded to Baltimore for a reunion with Ryan Helsley and for a bunch of ‘Can’t spell JoJo Romero without the O’s’ jokes. At any rate, that’s a bullpen lacking for southpaws.
Cardinals Trade Pitch Sends JoJo Romero to Baltimore
The Orioles came into this season expecting to contend, while the Cardinals were focused on rebuilding for the future. With that in mind, Romero makes sense as a trade candidate.
He is in the final year of his contract, and if St. Louis sells, it would make sense to trade Romero to a contender. Rental relievers often come in high demand at the deadline, so the Cardinals could bring back a couple of solid prospects for Romero.
It’s unlikely that he will be with the Cardinals in 2027, so trading him now would be a good approach as they look to pick up assets for the future. The Orioles have a strong farm system and could send a couple of good prospects back to St. Louis.
A contending team like Baltimore could use an extra late-inning reliever in its bullpen, so it will certainly be interesting to see if the two teams will come together for a deal when the deadline comes around. Baltimore especially needs left-handers, so Romero would be a good fit for them for the stretch run.
Cardinals’ Potential Deadline Strategy
The current Cardinals roster is constructed with the idea of them being sellers at the trade deadline, especially with so many players on expiring contracts. Romero is just one of these players, joining Dustin May, Ryne Stanek and Ramon Urias.
As long as Romero stays healthy, the Cardinals could get something could for him if they do in fact decide to sell. They need to continue restocking their farm system with young and controllable pitching, and selling off their expiring assets would be a good start towards ensuring that they have enough depth to get through the rebuild.
Curt Bishop Curt Bishop is a freelance sports writer who has written for various outlets including Heavy Sports, Sports Illustrated, FanSided, The Sporting News, Newsweek and Yardbarker. His work entails mostly breaking and trending news with a concentration on Major League Baseball (MLB). Curt graduated from Maryville University of St. Louis with a bachelor's degree in communications with a focus on emerging and new media, as well as a music minor. More about Curt Bishop