The Pirates spent much of 2026 searching for answers in the bullpen. The Brewers spent October showing just how dangerous a deep relief group can be. That contrast has now created a possible offseason move for Pittsburgh, with left-hander JoJo Romero emerging as a fit for the Pirates in MLB Trade Rumors’ annual Top 50 Free Agents rankings.
MLBTR projects Romero for a two-year, $13 million deal, and Anthony Franco pegged Pittsburgh as the most likely landing spot. The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals were also listed among the possibilities.
For a Pirates club that finished 21 games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central, Romero would be a relatively inexpensive way to add another proven arm. He would also come with the added bonus of taking a key piece from the division rival that just won it all.
Milwaukee got Romero from the St. Louis Cardinals in an August trade, and he fit right into a bullpen that became one of the defining strengths of the Brewers’ championship run.
Across the regular season with St. Louis and Milwaukee, Romero posted a 3.36 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 18 walks in 56 1/3 innings.
His October work was even sharper. In eight postseason innings, Romero allowed only three hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out 11. That stretch produced a 1.13 ERA and a 0.50 WHIP, numbers that helped steady a relief corps that kept coming through when the games tightened up.
The Brewers’ bullpen finished the postseason with a 1.38 ERA over 65 innings and held opponents to a .173 batting average. Both figures ranked second all-time for a bullpen in a single postseason with at least 50 innings pitched.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, had to fight through a very different reality for much of the year. The Pirates had 16 blown saves before the All-Star break, a problem that pushed general manager Ben Cherington to attack the bullpen at the trade deadline.
That work paid off. Luke Weaver, Kirby Yates and Lake Bachar helped settle things down, and Mason Montgomery eventually became a dominant late-inning option.
After the break, Pittsburgh’s bullpen actually led MLB in fWAR, a dramatic turnaround from where it started. Even so, the Pirates still need help heading into 2027.
With Gregory Soto entering free agency, Pittsburgh has an opening for another experienced left-hander who can handle meaningful innings. Romero fits that need at a price that would not strain the payroll. At the projected $6.5 million per year, he would cost less annually than the $7.75 million the Pirates paid Soto in 2026.
There are some clear limitations. Romero is not a big strikeout arm, and his 8% swinging-strike rate over the last four seasons points to a pitcher who wins more with contact management than bat-missing stuff.
But he has still been effective, thanks to his ground-ball ability and knack for limiting damage. He had a 2.07 ERA in 2025 and has piled up 80 holds over the past four seasons.
Pittsburgh would not be asking him to close games. With Montgomery and Weaver already in place for the late innings, Romero could slide into a seventh- or eighth-inning role and deepen the group. That is the kind of bullpen layering Milwaukee used to turn a strong unit into a championship one.
Signing Romero would not close a 21-game gap in the standings or fix every issue on the roster. But it would give the Pirates a cost-effective way to strengthen a key area while taking a useful arm away from a division rival. At $13 million over two years, it is the kind of move that makes a lot of sense.
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