Cardinals Should Keep Veteran Reliever to Begin 2026 Season

There's merit to keeping him.

Apr 21, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A St. Louis Cardinals hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals truly hit the reset button this offseason and finally dove into a full-scale rebuild. Four key contributors from the past two seasons are now gone, and the team has chosen to focus on younger players and building for the future.

Brendan Donovan, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras are all gone, but they had one other trade chip that remains with the team. Left-hander JoJo Romero is in the final year of his contract, and it makes sense to at least weigh interest in him.

However, the offers haven't been what the Cardinals have wanted. As such, it makes sense to hold onto him, at least for now.

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What to do with Romero

Sep 10, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher JoJo Romero (59) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

While trading Romero now would make sense, the Cardinals should only do it if they get the best possible offer. They finally did with Donovan, but for Romero, it has taken a little bit longer.

Instead, the Cardinals can wait to trade him until the deadline. At that point, rental relievers are in high demand, and contending teams will be willing to overpay in order to land rental pitching. Perhaps that is the best course of action.

By then, teams will be giving them better offers as they try to build for a run to the postseason, and they can give the Cardinals exactly what they are looking for.

The expectation is that the Cardinals will sell at the deadline and be out of contention by then, due to their rebuild. If they are sellers, Romero, Dustin May, Ryne Stanek and Yohel Pozo are obvious trade candidates since they all are on expiring contracts.

Of the four, Romero could probably get them the best return. But if they can't get something for him now, the best course of action is to hold onto him until the deadline when more teams will be willing to deal and offer up their best packages.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Romero. He posted a 2.07 ERA last season out of the bullpen, so if he is able to repeat that success, he will be in high demand at the trade deadline, and teams will be willing to overpay the Cardinals in order to pluck him away.

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