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St. Louis Cardinals pitcher JoJo Romero

The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals have already linked up on big-time trades this offseason, as St. Louis heads towards a rebuild season, and the Red Sox have been the beneficiaries of picking away two of the Cardinals’ best players in Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray.

With a month remaining until MLB’s Opening Day, could there be another trade that takes place between Boston and St. Louis? A recent report by Sean McAdam of MassLive.com indicates that Boston is looking for left-handed pitching options. There are three ways the Red Sox could do that at this juncture: MLB free agency, the trade market, or by making waiver claims.

It’s unclear how the Red Sox want to do it, but the Cardinals, who have essentially offloaded all their trade assets this offseason, have a southpaw reliever in JoJo Romero that might be worth trading for.

Should the Red Sox Trade for JoJo Romero?

With the new president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom (Red Sox’ old friend), running things in St. Louis, JoJo Romero is thought to be a top trade candidate across MLB.

MLBTradeRumors.com’s Nick Deeds floated that the Red Sox could trade for JoJo Romero to solve the lack of southpaw issue in their bullpen:

GettySt. Louis Cardinals pitcher JoJo Romero

“One other possibility worth giving a particular mention to is Cardinals lefty JoJo Romero. Romero has been a known trade candidate all throughout the offseason, and while at this point he appears to be the favorite to serve as St. Louis’s closer in 2026, the rebuilding Cardinals have traded every other pending free agent from their 2025 roster this winter except for the southpaw.”

The Red Sox have such a wealth of pitching depth, but just a lack of lefties in the bullpen. The current options on the team’s depth chart include Aroldis Chapman, Jovani Moran, and Tyler Samaniego.

JoJo Romero’s Effectiveness as a Starter

In the report by McAdam, the Red Sox have made it clear they don’t want to move Connely Early and Payton Tolle into bullpen roles, so that paves the way for either a free agent addition or a trade for a southpaw. The names listed above (Jovani Moran, Tyler Samaniego) likely won’t put the Red Sox in a great position if they are in high-leverage spots.

In 2025, Romero posted a 2.07 ERA over 61 innings and even recorded eight saves after Ryan Helsey was traded away at the break. Romero sets up to be the Cardinals’ closer if he remains on the team, but that level of production, paired with the fact he’s set to be a free agent after the 2026 season ends, makes him a strong trade candidate, and one that the Red Sox should target.

Boston could think about trading away a member of their current roster, like a starter, to make a Romero deal work, but the Cardinals may want prospects in return to help aid in the farm system and organizational rebuild.