The Cardinals have been one of the busiest teams of the winter. Sonny Gray, Wilson Contrerasagain Nolan Arenado all sent elsewhere to remove salary and add young talent. The team’s crown jewel during the offseason was the three-team trade it sent Brendan Donovan to Seattle in exchange for a Competitive Balance draft pick and a prospect package adorned with top prospects Jurrangelo Cijntje.
It wouldn’t be surprising if all that work was their only involvement in the commercial market. At this point, most of their roster is under multi-season control, and the team has often cleared the field to give its up-and-comers more playing time.
However, additional transactions will not be excluded. There is still one player on the team’s roster who has garnered interest from clubs: the southpaw JoJo Romero. Romero has been linked to several teams this winter, including the Mariners, Orioles, and Yankees. Given how quickly the bullpen market moved in free agency this offseason, Romero could have some value to a team like the Yankees or Twins who were known to be in the market for help but ended up with a high utility arm. The lefty is coming off a fine 2025 campaign in which he posted a 2.07 ERA in 61 innings. It can certainly gain a certain amount of hope if it is used.
The Cardinals would prefer to stick Romero in the ninth inning throughout the first half, let him gain experience in the closer’s role, and market that way at the deadline, when almost every contender will be scrambling for bullpen help. There’s certainly merit to that option, but it’s possible a bullpen-needy team would pay more for a full year of Romero now than in the summer. That figures to be especially true if his run blocking regresses to his solid but unspectacular spots from 2025. Romero pitched to a 4.10 SIERA with a career high 11.4% walk rate against a 21.6% strikeout rate last year.
Romero is the most likely player left on the Cardinals roster to leave before Opening Day, but there are other options. Lars Nootbaar again Nolan Gorman they were among the players whose names floated around like trade chips this winter. Nootbaar, in particular, would make sense given that he only has two years of team control left, but any attempts at trade talks have been hampered by the fact that he underwent surgery that could put him on the injured list when the 2026 campaign begins.
Gorman, 25, is coming off back-to-back seasons that saw him hit over 35% of the time, but in 2023 he posted a 118+ wRC+ with 27 homers in just 119 games. That kind of power is enticing, and given the lack of infield talent available right now, teams still looking for wall help might be willing to offer a decent return despite the warts. Although Gorman will have more value if he enters the big season in 2026, another poor campaign could leave him with no trade value. His departure will also create a way for the Cardinals to get both Thomas Saggese and high hopes JJ Wetherholt regular at-bats. Wetherholt figures to have the everyday job when he’s ready to start without Gorman, but Saggese could be relegated to the bench or the bench without a trade.
How do MLBTR readers feel about the Cardinals’ situation? With a handful of potential trade candidates, will they get another deal before the regular season begins? Or will the players currently on the roster stick around until trade talks resume near the trade deadline? Have your say in the poll below:
