The Cardinals may not be done with JoJo Romero just yet.
According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St.
Louis has interest in reuniting with the left-hander after dealing him to Milwaukee at the trade deadline. Romero ended up being a key piece for a Brewers bullpen that powered its way to a title, so it’s no surprise his name is back in the Cardinals’ orbit.
Romero’s path out of St. Louis looked like it might lead somewhere else in the late innings.
The Cardinals finished the 2025 season with their relief group in flux after Ryan Helsley and Phil Maton were traded away, and Romero even handled closing duties at times down the stretch. He appeared to have a real chance to claim the job in 2026, but Riley O’Brien took over as an All-Star stopper instead.
That left Romero in the high-leverage lefty role, where he piled up 20 holds in 44 appearances.
When the Cardinals moved him and Dustin May to Milwaukee, they brought back outfield prospects Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale. The deal helped both clubs.
Milwaukee got another southpaw for manager Pat Murphy’s late-inning mix alongside Aaron Ashby, and Romero barely blinked in October. He was scored upon in only one of seven playoff outings, and he picked up wins over the Dodgers in Games 2 and 4 of the NLCS.
St. Louis, meanwhile, added two young outfielders who quickly became some of the more intriguing bats in the system. MLB Pipeline ranked Frias No. 5 and Ragsdale No. 11 in the organization, while Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs placed Frias as the third-best prospect moved at the deadline.
Romero’s track record in St. Louis has been steady for years.
The 30-year-old came to the Cardinals in the 2022 deal that sent Edmundo Sosa to Philadelphia, and he posted an ERA in the low-to-mid 3.00s every season from 2023 through 2026. The lone exception was 2025, when he turned in a 2.07 ERA across a career-high 61 innings, aided by some favorable home run luck.
He also landed at No. 46 on our Top 50 Free Agents list, making him the fourth lefty reliever on the board behind Adrian Morejon, Alex Vesia, and Steven Okert. Morejon sits in a tier of his own, but Romero still fits comfortably in the next group. The projection here is a two-year, $13MM deal, and he should have plenty of suitors from teams looking to deepen their bullpens.
For the Cardinals, the fit is obvious. They head into 2027 with few proven answers behind O’Brien.
Luis Gastelum showed some strikeout upside in his debut season, and George Soriano turned in a decent year after arriving in a minor trade. The current left-handed options are Justin Bruihl, Brycen Mautz, Eduardo Rivera, and Josh Fleming, though Bruihl profiles more as a middle-relief arm and the others are better suited to multi-inning work.
In Other News...
Cardinals Face A Delicate Pitching Balance This Offseason
The Cardinals are heading into the offseason with a fairly clear pitching checklist, even if the exact names remain fluid. The rotation has a promising young core, but St. Louis is still expected to shop for a starter with upside while also looking at one or two veteran relievers to steady the bullpen. It is the kind of balancing act front offices face when they want to improve now without boxing out the younger arms they hope will matter down the line.
There is also a specific opening to address after the departure of Dustin May, which adds a little urgency to the search. Free agency has already produced a familiar list of possibilities for the Cardinals, including Kris Bubic, Casey Mize, Shota Imanaga and Jack Flaherty, but no moves have been made yet. For now, the plan seems to be as much about fit and timing as it is about talent, with St. Louis trying to strengthen the staff without clogging the path for its next wave of pitchers. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Could Have A Rare Shot At A Superstar Bat
A financial cloud hanging over San Diego has opened the door to an unusual kind of Cardinals speculation, and Fernando Tatis Jr. sits at the center of it. The Padres star has already built a resume that makes him one of the sports most recognizable bats, and his long-term contract only adds to the complexity of any possible move. For St. Louis, the idea is less about rumor for rumors sake and more about whether a rare superstar opportunity could ever align with a club that has been searching for a jolt.
There are plenty of hurdles before anything like that becomes real, starting with Tatis no-trade protection and the sheer difficulty of prying a player of his stature loose. Still, the new collective bargaining agreement and the Cardinals roster situation make this one worth keeping on the radar, even if it remains only a possibility for now. For a team that could use impact talent, the mere fact that this conversation exists says plenty about how unusual the market might become if San Diegos uncertainty deepens. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Interest In J.P. Crawford Sparks A Bigger Third Base Debate
The Cardinals search for help at third base has opened the door to an interesting possibility in J.P. Crawford, whose bat against right-handed pitching makes him a plausible platoon fit. On paper, he would give St. Louis a more established option at a spot where the club has been weighing short-term stability against long-term development.
But any move in that direction would come with a familiar cost: fewer reps for Blaze Jordan and Thomas Saggese, two young players the organization seems intent on evaluating. Crawford could make the lineup look cleaner in the moment, yet the Cardinals may decide the bigger priority is keeping those at-bats available for the younger group rather than narrowing the path with another veteran stopgap. [Read more 🡒]