8 Cardinals who weren't traded at the deadline but could be moved this offseason

LHP JoJo Romero

Trading JoJo Romero began gaining steam with about a week to go before the deadline. Bernie Miklasz first posited the idea, and I agreed with Bernie, though trading Romero would have been a bit surprising. After all, Mozeliak made it clear that he would primarily be shopping players with expiring contracts like Ryan Helsley, Steven Matz, and Phil Maton.

However, JoJo Romero could have brought back a pretty decent haul of prospects this year.

In 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals opted to be soft buyers, trading Tommy Edman for Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham. This helped offset some shortcomings of the team without sacrificing the future. Ryan Helsley could have been traded at last year's deadline with maximum value and a year and a half of control remaining. Instead, the Cardinals opted to hold onto Helsley. They did the same this offseason despite Helsley being extremely attractive to opposing teams.

John Mozeliak is repeating that failure once again with Romero.

JoJo has a 2.04 ERA through 35.1 innings of relief this year. He's struck out 8.92 batters per nine innings this year, a solid number for the southpaw. He's generated ground balls at a 52.7% clip, and he's allowed just one home run all year. He was exceptional in the month of July, as he didn't allow a single earned run in 9.2 innings while also striking out 15 batters.

With another year of control left after this year, JoJo Romero would have been an appealing trade candidate at the deadline. The Seattle Mariners were reportedly looking for left-handed bullpen help. The Los Angeles Dodgers could have used another reliever for the postseason. However, John Mozeliak and the front office instead opted to hold onto a reliever, the most volatile position in baseball, instead of trading him at his peak once again.

It's totally possible JoJo Romero continues to pitch well and enters the closer role for the Cardinals. This could raise his value for an offseason trade. However, it's equally as possible that Romero takes a step back in a higher-leverage role and he loses value over the final two months of the season.