Cardinals Rumors: Heavy interest around the league in St. Louis reliever

The St. Louis Cardinals have dealt one of their most valuable pitchers and appear to have plenty of suitors for another. As St. Louis enters the true first year of a rebuild, reliever JoJo Romero is the ideal candidate to be shipped to a contending team this offseason.

Interest in JoJo Romero is peaking at the Winter Meetings

The expectation around the league and in Cardinal Nation is that the Cardinals will be trading away at least Nolan Arenado and one of their cost-controlled lefty bats, but the interest surrounding St. Louis' pitching has been insignificant. This has to do with the fact that Sonny Gray was already dealt, and the rest of the pitching staff is full of question marks in terms of quality and value, outside of one reliever who has been gaining more traction in trade talks. JoJo Romero, the current closer on the Cardinals' depth chart, is a free agent after the 2026 season and is someone who could provide more value to the future of the organization if he were to be traded.

Last week, the Washington Nationals traded lefty reliever Jose Ferrer and received 42nd-ranked prospect Harry Ford back in return from the Seattle Mariners. Ferrer has much more team control remaining than Romero, but he was not as effective as the Cardinals' southpaw. It would be a stretch to think the Cardinals could receive a top-50 prospect in return for one season of Romero, but there seems to be enough interest around the league that the price could be driven up a little more.

Keeping JoJo in the St. Louis bullpen makes little sense for the rebuilding club, but they do still intend to be competitive. Regardless of intention, an above-average closer, especially one from the left side, is nearly worthless for the team that is not expected to be in a playoff race. The Cardinals used Romero as a closer, but he has shown plenty of success in high-leverage roles no matter what inning he is called upon. His splits between lefty and righty hitters are not too concerning where teams would have to set up his matchups perfectly, but Romero does not have the elite strikeout rates that some of the best relievers in the game possess.

While there is not really any rush for the Cardinals to accept the first offer that comes across the table for Romero, the longer they wait, the fewer suitors that may be available for the reliever. Since there has not been much action around the league just yet, the longer the Winter Meetings go on, the more likely we are to see players change uniforms. In years past, the Cardinals always seemed to wait too long and eventually miss out on a proper return in a trade. This year, though, Chaim Bloom already looks to change the way the organization has operated.

Romero has been rumored to be of interest for the New York Yankees, but nothing has been cemented in terms of sourced reports. Derrick Goold reported that there could be close to, if not more than, ten teams have checked in on Romero.