Chaim Bloom's trade strategy confirmed for two highly valued Cardinals assets

The St. Louis Cardinals have outperformed nearly everyone's expectations so far this season and are currently holding onto a postseason spot. This success has caused a discussion in Cardinal Nation on whether Chaim Bloom should add to the roster and play for October, or stay committed to the rebuild and sell of expiring assets. According to Bob Nightengale, the future remains the focus in St. Louis.

According to the MLB insider, the Cardinals are likely to take full advantage of well-performing veterans on expiring contracts this summer. Nightengale says that despite the team's success, both starter Dustin May and reliever JoJo Romero are expected to be dealt. Each player is in the last year of team control (May has a mutual option, which are never exercised) and could bring back real value for the upstart Cardinals.

Trading Dustin May and JoJo Romero opens up plenty of innings for the Cardinals pitching staff

The news is upsetting to some for sure, as each player has played a key role in the team's success to this point and losing them would not be a small loss for the team in control of a Wild Card spot. May has been great of late, losing a no-hitter late in a start and unlocking some more strikeout stuff than he showed at the beginning of the year. At the time of his signing and consistently since, I clamored for a two-year deal for May to give Bloom so much flexibility, but the righty will now be a rental piece for whatever acquiring team.

This move would create an opening for Hunter Dobbins to slide into a regular rotation after being moved into a temporary six-man setup. With Dobbins staying stretched out, a May trade means that Kyle Leahy is likely to remain in the rotation as the Cardinals may give him the full season to audition for a starting role. Andre Pallante has done his job of late, so the upper minor league arms like Brycen Mautz and Quinn Mathews will have to continue to wait for their opportunity.

While the Cardinals can make up for May's loss relatively well, a trade of JoJo Romero may be tougher to handle for both Oli Marmol and the fans. The Cardinals' bullpen has already been spotty at best, so dealing one of the go-to, late-inning arms could make the end of games even more suspenseful. With Justin Bruihl as the only other lefty on the active roster, the Cardinals will have to fill the bullpen spot with Mautz or they could get creative and give Cooper Hjerpe his opportunity.

In a year that was not meant to be competitive, these moves always seemed likely from the outset of the offseason. However, the team's success and exciting play has created some desire for fine tuning a flawed roster. Chaim Bloom is not going to be influenced by the outside noise, though, and is staying true to the plan and looking to get the best deal for his expiring contracts in what is likely to be a busy summer.

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