6 keys to the St. Louis Cardinals pulling off a dream trade deadline

4. Trade JoJo Romero at peak value

For those of you who thought I missed someone when talking about moving bullpen arms, you're right, I was saving JoJo Romero for a separate conversation. The Cardinals 100% should shop Romero at this deadline, and if a team is willing to pay the price, it's time to move him to the highest bidder.

The Cardinals had the opportunity to make a similar move involving Helsley at the 2024 trade deadline, but opted to hold onto him in an effort to push for the playoffs. They fell flat on their face after the deadline, and it makes you wonder that if they had an opportunity to do that over, if they would have capitalized on Helsley's year and a half of control and the high prices contenders were paying for Helsley.

If you haven't been paying attention to Romero's dominance as of late, get a load of these numbers!

• On the season, Romero has a sparkling 2.12 ERA, fourth-best among all left-handed relievers in all of baseball. His FIP (2.89), HR/9 rate, and GB% all rank in the top 12 as well.
• But wait, it gets even better. Since May 1st, Romero has allowed just one earned run, resulting in a mind-boggling 0.38 ERA in 27 games pitched, the second-best mark among all relievers in baseball and best among lefties since then. In fact, his 0.38 ERA is almost a full run better than the second-best left-handed reliever ERA over the last almost three months of baseball.

Uh, so yeah, any contender would go crazy over adding Romero if they have the opportunity to do so.

With another year of control remaining after this year, the Cardinals have the opportunity to cash in big time. Romero is a dominant high-leverage reliever who can shut down left-handed hitters, and when you get to October, that is a huge asset to have. Managers would love to be able to go to their bullpen when bats like Juan Soto, Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper, and other left-handed monsters come up to the plate, and feel confident that their guy can get them out of that spot. With the way Romero is pitching right now, he provides that kind of production.

Sure, it would be a tough loss for the Cardinals' bullpen, but relievers are volatile, and we've even seen that with Romero before. For as incredible as he's been this year, he could very easily begin to struggle again, whether that is this year or next year. Sell high, St. Louis, and bring back helpful pieces for the future.