The St. Louis Cardinals started their offseason teardown on Tuesday by trading starting pitcher Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Richard Fitts and pitching prospect Brandon Clarke. 

The question now? What's next?

Nolan Arenado is expected to be traded or released while Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Lars Nootbaar have all fielded some level of trade interest this offseason. And you can add left-handed reliever JoJo Romero to that list, as the Belleville News-Democrat reports that he's also generating trade inquiries. 

JoJo Romero is also drawing trade interest this winter, and he has just over five years of major league service time.

A 29-year-old California native, Romero was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, and he was traded to the Cardinals at the trade deadline in 2022.

He's spent parts of six years in the big leagues with the two organizations, going 15-11 with a 3.55 ERA. He's worked in 65 games each of the last two seasons, and he just went 4-6 with an impressive 2.07 ERA this year. He struck out 55 batters in 61.0 innings.

He's a free agent at the end of the 2026 season. Given that fact, and given that the Cardinals are in a rebuild, a trade makes perfect sense. It's just a matter of when.

Well for starters, Romero is projected to make $4.4 million in arbitration. If the Cardinals trade him now, they have a better chance at shedding all or part of that salary, which aligns with their offseason goal of cutting payroll.

Secondly, a team might be willing to give up more from Romero knowing that they have him for a full season.

And thirdly, Romero is healthy right now and hasn't fallen victim to bullpen volatility. If the Cardinals were to wait, they run the risk of him being injured or performing poorly.

An acquiring team may not want to pay most or all of Romero's salary at this point in the calendar, but if the team waits until the trade deadline to trade him, his salary will be much more palatable for another team, still allowing the Cardinals to get out of some of the money.

Secondly, in juxtaposition to the point above: If a team acquires Romero at the deadline, they may be so desperate for bullpen help that they overpay, actually giving the Cardinals a better haul than what they could get now.

And lastly, Romero is a good pitcher. He will help the Cardinals win more games in the first three months of the season, something that will make fans happy. And that's still important.

YOHEL POZO is BACK: Recently non-tendered, the Cardinals have brought back the popular backup catcher. CLICK HERE: 

TOP CARDINALS PROSPECT'S FUTURE COULD BE DETERMINED BY OFFSEASON MOVES: The organization's Minor League Player of the Year and top 10 prospect J.J. Wetherholt has various different ways he can make his major league debut. CLICK HERE

MLB INSIDER DISCUSSES POSSIBILITY OF TRADE INVOLVING CARDINALS INFIELDER: Brendan Donovan seems to be getting mass interest from teams around the majors. CLICK HERE

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