Best fit for every Cardinals player who could be sold at the 2025 trade deadline

JoJo Romero: Toronto Blue Jays

While trading away the expiring bullpen arms is a decision that should be clear as day to John Mozeliak and the Cardinals' front office, one name that they are listening to offers on that should be moved as well is left-handed reliever JoJo Romero.

While things were rough to start 2025 for Romero out of the Cardinals' bullpen, it is not hyperbole to say that he's been one of the five best relievers in baseball since the month of May began. Romero's 2.12 ERA on the year is already extremely impressive, but since May 1st, he's allowed just one earned run and 17 hits in 27 games, posting a ridiculous 0.38 ERA that is second best among all relievers and almost a full run better than the next best left-handed reliever.

Romero is on an absolute heater right now, and the Cardinals should capitalize on that. He has one more year of club control remaining after this season, making him a very interesting piece for an opposing team to acquire. He's probably not going to be this could all year long, but he should be a very valuable piece to a contending bullpen.

While I have the Toronto Blue Jays as the fit here due to their lack of depth when it comes to left-handed bullpen arms, I could really see just about any contender adding him, especially National League teams.

First, for the Blue Jays, Brendon Little is their only true dynamic option out of the bullpen this year from the left side. Adding Romero would certainly change that, and having the extra year of club control would be great considering the number of free agents they have this coming offseason.

I would probably pick "the NL field here" when it comes to a Romero destination, though. The Phillies (Harper, Schwarber, and Marsh), Dodgers (Ohtani, Freeman, and Kim), Padres (Arraez, Merrill, and Cronenworth), Mets (Soto, McNeil, and Nimmo), Cubs (Tucker, Crow-Armstrong, and Busch), and even the Brewers (Frelick, Yelich, and Turang) find a ton of their production from the left side of the plate, so having a shutdown lefty like Romero could be kryptonite come October.

The Cardinals could hold onto him for their 2026 team or to explore a deal in the offseason, but they already made that mistake with Helsley at last year's deadline. They should strike while the iron is hot right now and get as much value as they can, and rely on their young bullpen arms or offseason acquisitions for 2026.

Other fits: Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres