St. Louis Cardinals trade Sosa to get lefty reliever from Phillies

The St. Louis Cardinals made their first move adjacent to the trade deadline on Saturday, sending infielder Edmundo Sosa to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for left-handed reliever JoJo Romero, the teams announced.

Romero, 25, has 19 earned runs in 21 ⅔ innings pitched out of the Phillies bullpen over the last three seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2021, and has been rehabbing largely in the minor leagues ever since, making just two appearances in the big leagues this season.

“We explored a lot of different things for Sosa, obviously, trying to find something that could help us now,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “That was something that was our desire, but we really weren’t ever to a point where we felt like we were doing that. And so ultimately, we decided to pivot and think a little bit about our future.”

Sosa, who took over as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop toward the end of the 2021 season and was their starter in the Wild Card game against the Dodgers, hit just .189 in part-time action this season. In recent days, as St. Louis promoted former starting shortstop Paul DeJong to the team’s taxi squad, it became clear that finding a roster spot for DeJong was a pressing concern.

“Had a good conversation with him,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “I enjoyed having him. I’ve known him for a while; a long, long time. So seeing him not be with us is not ideal, but we needed space on the roster, so it makes sense.”

Without the ability to freely send Sosa to the minor leagues, a trade was necessary. Romero, by contrast, has one minor league option remaining after this season, and represents an opportunity for roster flexibility while filling depth.

Brandon Waddell, who pitched for the Cardinals in 2021, signed in Korea during this season, and even with Packy Naughton and Zack Thompson establishing themselves in the Major League bullpen, depth options at Memphis were thin.

Romero fills that role while opening another.

DeJong’s promotion, opened by this trade, will include an opportunity for him to reclaim the starting shortstop job which the Cardinals envisioned remaining his as they opened the season. That, in turn, slides Tommy Edman back across the diamond to second base. Nolan Gorman, in the lineup Saturday as the designated hitter, could offer balance to Albert Pujols in that role.

Or, by shuffling these pieces, the Cardinals could prepare to reel in a much bigger fish, and Gorman could well be the bait.

Friday’s trade between the Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners which saw Luis Castillo shipped to the pacific northwest came as a surprise both in terms of its timing (three days before the deadline) and the cost paid by Seattle (two prospect’s in Baseball America’s Top 100, two others in their organizational top 30).

For the Cardinals, operating on parallel tracks as Tuesday evening approaches, the cost of the upgrade on the mound may turn out to be prospect capital better spent on a unicorn-esque superstar like Washington’s Juan Soto.

“Obviously there’s some names being discussed out there that might be arguably slightly unusual, given the years of control,” Mozeliak conceded. Soto has two full years of team control following this season.

“I would agree that it’s rare,” he added. “But finding a meeting of the minds on something like that is going to be complicated, because it’s not like we can look at past market or past precedent to say what is fair.”

That give and take, which defines all trade negotiations as a matter of course, is acute in this instance given the many variables in play.

Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said on the radio in D.C. this week that he wasn’t eager to attach a “bad” contract to Soto in a trade in an attempt to limit the prospect cost.

And yet, the definition of bad is fungible. And if the cost isn’t limited, but simply altered, or negotiated, there’s room in the middle ground. And Rizzo, on the same show less than two months ago, denied that the Nationals would seek to trade Soto at all.

The times, they are a-changing. Rapidly.

It’s unlikely that the Sosa trade is the only deal the Redbirds will execute by the time the bell rings at 5 p.m. Tuesday. With the president, general manager, and two of the three assistant general managers gathered at Nationals Park over the weekend, there is no shortage of options and scenarios being floated through the team’s ballpark suite.

“I don’t think this time of year matters for our model, like how we’re thinking about value propositions,” Mozeliak said. “What does matter to the model is the acquisition cost, because that’s what everybody’s trying to navigate.

“If you’re a buyer, you’re trying to understand what those costs look like. If you’re a seller, you’re trying to maximize what you’re selling. That’s the exercise everybody’s going through right now.”