The Cardinals have been one of the winter’s busiest teams. Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado were all shipped elsewhere to clear salary and add some young talent. The crown jewel on the team’s offseason was the three-team trade that sent Brendan Donovan to Seattle in exchange for two Competitive Balance draft picks and a package of prospects headlined by top pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje.
It wouldn’t be a shock if all that activity was the end of their involvement in the trade market. At this point, the majority of their roster is controlled for multiple seasons, and the team has generally cleared the deck to give its up-and-coming youngsters more playing time.
Even so, additional trades can’t be ruled out. There is still one more rental player on the team’s roster who has garnered interest from teams: southpaw JoJo Romero. Romero has been connected to several teams this winter, including the Mariners, Orioles, and Yankees. Given how quickly the bullpen market moved in free agency this offseason, Romero could have particular value to a team like the Yankees or Twins that was known to be in the market for relief help but didn’t end up landing a coveted high leverage arm. The lefty is coming off a nice 2025 campaign where he posted a 2.07 ERA in 61 innings. He’d surely net some prospect value if dealt.
The Cardinals could prefer to put Romero in the ninth inning throughout the first half, let him accumulate experience in the closer role, and market him as such at the trade deadline, when virtually every contender will be on the prowl for bullpen help. There’s certainly some merit to that option, but it’s possible a bullpen-needy team would pay more for a full year of Romero now than over the summer. That figures to be especially true if his run prevention regresses towards his solid but unspectacular peripherals from 2025. Romero pitched to a 4.10 SIERA with a hefty 11.4% walk rate against a 21.6% strikeout rate last year.
Romero is the most likely player left on the Cardinals roster to move before Opening Day, but there are other options. Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman were among the players who had their names floated as possible trade chips this winter. Nootbaar, in particular, would make sense given that he has just two years of team control remaining, but any attempts at trade talks have surely been complicated by him undergoing surgery that could land him on the injured list when the 2026 campaign begins.
Gorman, 25, is coming off back-to-back down seasons that saw him strike out more than 35% of the time, but in 2023 he flashed an impressive 118 wRC+ with 27 homers in just 119 games. That kind of power is enticing, and with a dearth of infield talent currently available, teams still looking for help on the dirt might be willing to offer a decent return despite the warts. While Gorman would surely have a lot more value if he turns in a big season in 2026, another lackluster campaign would likely leave him with little to no trade value. His departure would also create a path for the Cardinals to get both Thomas Saggese and top prospect JJ Wetherholt regular at-bats. Wetherholt figures to have an everyday job once he’s ready to debut regardless of Gorman’s presence, but Saggese might be relegated to a platoon or bench role without a trade.
How do MLBTR readers view the Cardinals’ situation? With a handful of theoretical trade candidates still on the roster, will they get another deal done before the regular season begins? Or will the players currently on the roster stick around until trade talks pick back up closer to the trade deadline? Have your say in the poll below:
It’s Romero or they’re finished. Team has been stripped down. Nootbaar will get a chance to bounce back before being shipped out
They should/hope trade Romero.
Alec and Lars are gon-ars…stock up stock up on prospects and playoffs in 2028 will be reality without a doubt….pitching in the minors is mind blowing
Just as long as it’s not elbow-blowing.
Let’s accept ChatGPT’s analysis:
Overall Farm System Strength
Pittsburgh Pirates have been ranked as the best farm system in baseball overall heading into 2026. That includes position players and pitchers.
St. Louis Cardinals rank very highly (2nd) in Baseball America’s farm system rankings and are noted for having impact pitching prospects among their top talent.
Nothing about elbow injuries, we’re good
Burley’s not going anywhere this year, and the Cards would need a heck of an offer to sell low on a hobbled Noot.
Romero is the only guy that makes sense to move. Let the youngsters play and hopefully we can turn this thing around soooooon.
Let’s go, Cards!
Idk of a more prominent franchise in all of sports that are as lost as the cardinals are rn. The politics of baseball has blown by them and they put all of their eggs in the wrong basket. They are getting lotto tickets or less for these players they are trading, seemed to be throwing darts at the draft, have a poor international presence, and even though they can pay up to the salary cap in payroll every year- there’s 10 teams that will always have the power to outbid them. I thought Bichette would be a sneaky long term sign for them yet they never had a chance with the type of money he got. Cardinals are 3/4 years away from competing in the softest division in baseball
At Big whiffa…First off, I thought i smelled something, no more burritos for you. The Card will make the playoffs 2028 for at least five years straight, that’s not so much lost as gearing up in the proper manner for the future…
I’m hoping Bloom will trade for Masataka Yoshida. He wants to prove the scouting report from the ferris wheel is true
I think they’re done and will keep Romero to add some continuity, stability, and consistency in the bullpen, though I wish they could’ve packaged him with Donovan. The Ferrer-for-Ford trade kind of prevented that from happening.
I’m down to trade Noot if he shows the heels are healthy, but that probably couldn’t really be anytime before midseason. Last report was he’d start the year on the IL.
Noot would have been gone if not for injury. Trade Burleson before he turns back into a pumpkin. Hope that Romero has a big 1st half and get rid of him at the deadline.