{"id":680099,"date":"2026-04-21T01:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/680099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:02:02","slug":"edwin-diaz-injury-opens-door-to-potential-dodgers-cardinals-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/680099\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwin Diaz Injury Opens Door to Potential Dodgers-Cardinals Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a huge rebuild right now. They traded three of their top relievers, all on expiring contracts, at the trade deadline last season. This trio of moves helped net the Cardinals a few solid prospects, but the rebuild took off in the offseason, as the Cardinals traded four cornerstone veterans to bolster their future instead of their present day roster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">They&#8217;re in the perfect position to make a few more moves to chase their rebuild this season, especially after the latest big MLB injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">Edwin Diaz of the Los Angeles Dodgers has an elbow injury, and he will undergo surgery to fix it. He&#8217;s expected to be out for a few months and could need additional time to work up to full strength whenever he returns to the mound. As a result, the Dodgers could desperately hit the trade block in search of an additional bullpen arm.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">The Cardinals have the perfect option.<\/p>\n<p>JoJo Romero makes a lot of sense as a trade fit for the Dodgers<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kppmy1we2mpzeks29e.jpg\" alt=\"St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jojo Romero\" title=\"St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jojo Romero\" width=\"2902\" height=\"1632\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"77\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 10, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jojo Romero (59) pitches in relief in the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images | Tim Vizer-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">JoJo Romero is the perfect option for the Dodgers to pursue. He&#8217;s one of the better left-handed relievers expected to be on the trade block, and he would fit perfectly in the backend of the Dodgers bullpen, even when Diaz returns. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">Romero hadn&#8217;t allowed a run through his first 10 appearances, but surrendered three runs in his last outing. Still, his season ERA sits at 2.25 with the WHIP sitting right around 1.00. He&#8217;s reliable and productive at the back end of games. The Dodgers&#8217; bullpen struggled last season, and it&#8217;s not the greatest unit in the league this year. An addition like Romero would certainly make them a lot better doing forward.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">But Romero isn&#8217;t the only Cardinals pitcher who could be on the move.<\/p>\n<p>Riley O&#8217;Brien could fit for the Dodgers, too<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kppmx3ptcmyxp3r4z8.jpg\" alt=\"St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Riley O'Brien\" title=\"St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Riley O'Brien\" width=\"5401\" height=\"3038\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7u\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 18, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Riley O&#8217;Brien (61) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">Cardinals righty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/cardinals\/onsi\/mlb-trade-big-board-3-players-st-louis-cardinals-could-trade-in-2026-zach3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Riley O&#8217;Brien has quickly made himself a trade candidate<\/a> this season because of how dominant he&#8217;s been.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">Through 12 1\/3 innings, he has six saves and has yet to allow a run. He has 14 strikeouts, a WAR near 1.0, and a WHIP of 0.40. The numbers are ridiculous, which could be the boost that the Dodgers desperately need in their bullpen.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">This deal would also make sense for the Cardinals because it would be moving O&#8217;Brien at his peak value. A star closer doesn&#8217;t have an insanely valuable spot on a rebuilding club. He would be worth more to the Cardinals as a trade chip.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a huge rebuild right now. They traded three of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-680099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116440006846476518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}