St. Louis Cardinals reliever JoJo Romero is reportedly drawing trade interest from the Seattle Mariners, according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. That post was re-populated by MLBTradeRumors and includes a link to the original report.

Seattle’s interest in Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan is no secret. They were linked to him last offseason and have been reported to be one of his most prominent suitors this winter. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports that in addition to Donovan, the Mariners have had “ongoing” discussions with the Cardinals about left-handed reliever JoJo Romero throughout the winter.

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Now 29 years old, Romero is a California native who played his college ball at Nevada and Yavapai College. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2016 and made his major league debut with Philadelphia in 2021. Acquired by the Cardinals in 2022, he’s gone 15-11 lifetime with a 3.55 ERA.

He appeared in 65 games last season for St. Louis, striking out 55 over 61.0 innings. This is the final year of his contract, and he’s expected to be traded at some point.

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The Cardinals have already made three big trades this offseason, sending Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox and Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Romero and Donovan are both expected to be dealt, though the Cardinals can continue to hold out for the right return if they want to.

The Mariners have a very highly-regarded farm system, so if the Cardinals could find a way to flip both Donovan and Romero to them, they’d be in the mix for a true haul of a return.

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Seattle has consensus Top 100 prospects in Colt Emerson (SS), Lazaro Montes (OF), Jonny Farmelo (OF), Michael Arroyo (OF/INF), Kade Anderson (P), Ryan Sloan (P) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (P). We know that the Cardinals have at least discussed Cijntje and Montes with Seattle, though it’s unclear if both could be acquired by St. Louis.

Not as much as they need Donovan, considering they have both Jose Ferrer and Gabe Speier as left-handed relievers, but Romero was excellent last season and would give them more bullpen help as they chase another American League West crown.

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With the Arenado trade and the recent signings of Alex Bregman (Cubs) and Ranger Suarez (Red Sox), the dam is breaking on the MLB offseason. We could hear some Cardinals-related news soon.

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