Cardinals 29-Year-Old Pitcher Could Be Next To Go For St. Louis

The St. Louis Cardinals have already traded one picher away this offseason and there’s plenty of time left for more moves.

We haven’t seen the last trade from St. Louis, that much is obvious. The Cardinals’ front office has been candid this offseason about how they will be listening on deals. That showed on Tuesday. The Winter Meetings aren’t even here and yet the Cardinals already have gotten one blockbuster trade done by cutting ties with Sonny Gray and sending him to the Boston Red Sox.

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So, which pitcher could be next? Jeff Jones of theBelleville News-Democrat reported that 29-year-old relief pitcher JoJo Romero is generating trade interest before Gray was even traded.

“JoJo Romero is drawing trade interest, and if moved, the most experienced incumbent Cardinals reliever is Riley O’Brien,” Jones wrote. “If Sonny Gray is traded, the incumbent ace is…Matthew Liberatore? The Cardinals have avoided saying they’re rebuilding. The roster says it for them.”

Gray has been moved and Romero is someone who surely could bring back a pretty penny as well. He’s under team control for the 2026 season and will be a free agent in 2027. He had the best season of his career in 2025 as he made 65 appearances and had a 2.07 ERA and a 55-to-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 61 innings pitched.

Romero saw some time as the Cardinals’ closer after Ryan Helsley was traded away. He tallied eight saves for the club, which was the highest mark of his career by far. Before that, he his career high for saves in a season was three.

What the Gray trade confirmed is that the Cardinals are open for business. We typically don’t see major moves get done until closer to the Winter Meetings. This offseason, they begin on Dec. 7th. But, the Cardinals got aggressive and made one of the deals they wanted to get done happen. The Cardinals chipped in cash to trade Gray, but this is a step in the right direction for the organization. Now, the eyes are on Romero as another guy who could be moved.