The New York Yankees are reportedly looking to bolster their bullpen with a major trade.
New York saw Devin Williams leave this offseason, and the Yankees have yet to make a major move to the bullpen. With most of the top free agent relievers signed, New York will likely look at the trade market. And, it appears the Yankees have their eyes on one reliever.
St. Louis Cardinals insider Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Yankees are looking at trading for star left-handed reliever JoJo Romero.
Romero had the best season of his MLB career with the Cardinals last season, and St. Louis could look to sell high on the left-hander. He went 4-6 with a 2.07 ERA in 65 games, including 8 saves.
Romero is under team control through 2026. So with him having just one year left on his deal, a trade could happen. The Yankees also make sense, as Romero could be a high-leverage reliever for New York and add a left-hander to the bullpen.
Given that Romero is in the final year of his deal, the Yankees also likely wouldn’t have to give up a top-level prospect. But, it appears New York is zeroing in on trading for the Cardinals’ left-handed reliever.
Yankees Never Offered Williams an Extension
The Yankees saw Williams sign a three-year, $51 million deal with the New York Mets this offseason.
Although Williams had an up-and-down season with the Yankees, he did show some interest in re-signing. However, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman revealed the team didn’t offer Williams an extension.
“He never called me back—I’m not saying he needed to,” Cashman said at the Winter Meetings. “Bringing him back, I wouldn’t have made the phone call if it wasn’t a possibility, but we didn’t make an offer.”
Williams was supposed to be the Yankees’ closer last season, but he struggled early on. However, Cashman thought Williams was much better than his final numbers looked.
“I would agree that his season was better than how the normal numbers look,” Cashman said. “He had a handful of games that destroyed the overall numbers.”
Williams went 4-6 with a 4.79 ERA in 67 games with the Yankees last season.
Cardinals Getting Interest in Romero
St. Louis is expected to be sellers this offseason as the Cardinals have some intriguing players to trade.
The Cardinals have been linked to shopping Brendan Donovan, Romero, Nolan Arenado, and Willson Contreras. However, no deal happened at the Winter Meetings but Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom hinted at moves happening.
“That’s not how it has felt to me,” said Bloom. “To some degree, it’s binary — either you have something or you don’t. Right now, we don’t.”
According to MLB insider John Denton of MLB.com, St. Louis is looking to sell high on Donovan and Romero this offseason, as they remain the mot likely trade chips.
“Bloom, a Cards consultant the past two years, knows the Cards can’t seriously contend in 2026 even if he brought those players back,” Denton wrote. “Instead, he wants to try and exchange Donovan and Romero at the height of their values for a bevy of promising prospects.”
The Cardinals last made the playoffs in 2022.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Yankees Interested in Trading for 2.07-ERA Reliever to Bolster Bullpen appeared first on Heavy Sports.