Cardinal left-handed Jojo Romero This summer is a logical trade candidate, but not moved. In a chat with readers this week, Derrick Goold of St. Louis Post Post reported that “at least one team” stayed in touch with the Cardinals in search of left-handed reliefers. However, the GOOLD relay card, which lets the team know that they are willing to listen to the quote John Kingseems to prefer to have him offer the opposite of Romero.
The interest in Romero is understandable. His career strikeout and walking rates were 23% and 8.3%, respectively, both very close to the league average. His 53.1% ground ball rate is very strong. His career average score was 3.70, and in 2025, that number dropped to 1.98. He made only 2.26mm this year and can be retained by arbitration in 2026.
It seems that the cards are not very interested in making him useful, as they try to use gold as an alternative. King is somewhat similar to Romero as a left-handed expert, but his numbers aren’t that strong. His 62.2% ground ball hits more than Romero’s ball, but he beats only 15.1% of his opponents. This is a significant difference, especially in the modern era, where front desks like to strike out. King has 3.87 ERA in his career, but this year it is 5.18. He made 1.605 mm this year and could control two seasons through arbitration. It’s been a year in years compared to Romero, but King is two years old and is about to be 31, while Romero is almost 29 years old. King landed at Illinois State University with a tense oblique force before the deadline.
In the end, neither moves, so the Cardinal probably didn’t get a quote they thought would be sufficiently compelling in either case. Future surveillance will be interesting whether changes will occur once their regime changes take the next step.
About a year ago, in late September 2024, the upcoming front-end changes were announced. Baseball Operations President John Mozeliak will continue until 2025 before handing the ins rope to Chaim Bloom. During this time, Bloom focused on the club’s player development system and occasionally advised on front-end moves.
The cards are also open around 2025, a transition year, and they will be less focused on investing in the major league roster, emphasizing more of the development elements of these players. There is a general expectation that they will make veterans available last offseason, especially expensive players. But men like Willson Contreras,,,,, Miles Mikolas and Sonny Gray There is little interest in abandoning their respective non-trade clauses. Nolan Arenado More open to trade possibilities, but blocked a deal with the Astronauts and ended up not moving.
The club may then trade others during the offseason, e.g. Erick Fedde or Ryan Helsleybut ultimately mainly keeps slapping. Their most eye-catching move in winter is signing Phil Marton One year and 2 mm.
Their deadlines are also modest. They made several deals but moved only to the upcoming free agents like Fedde, Helsley, Maton and Steven Matz. They are reportedly interested in controllable guys like Romero Alec Burleson,,,,, Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan But everyone holds everyone.
It remains to be seen whether these decisions are a function of weird dilemma years. Perhaps Mozeliak would rather leave the decisions of these controllable guys to his successor. If so, then maybe these guys might be more this winter once the key is handed over to Bloom.
It also depends on various other factors. What kind of salary parameters will be obtained from ownership? Will the club wait for the expensive contract to expire before paying the team again? What does Bloom think of the system he has been monitoring for the past year? Does the club still want to continue to be like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman Although the results in 2025 are weak?
In the winter, the decision not to move Fedde and Helsley seemed counterproductive. Both players have worse results in 2025 than in 2024, which could result in less trade yields this summer than trade earnings a few months ago. Perhaps Bloom will avoid the same path as someone like Romero this winter, although his decision should be influenced by the answers to the franchise questions.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, image
