The St. Louis Cardinals may have to decide on their starting rotation. The Cardinals enter Sunday at 34-28, holding the top wild-card spot in the National League and second in the NL Central. Their current record is a surprise for a club that spent the offseason trading away veterans and committing to a rebuild.
USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale reported on Sunday that the Cardinals are expected to trade reliever JoJo Romero and starter Dustin May at the deadline, "providing they slip further back in the wild-card race."
Fangraphs projects the Cardinals to finish the season with a record of 82-80, where teams typically need to have between 88-90 wins to make the postseason.
The 28-year-old May has taken a winding road to St. Louis. The right-hander debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019, won a World Series in 2020 and was once viewed as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects before a series of arm injuries, including two elbow surgeries, stalled his rise. He joined the Cardinals last offseason after a brief stint with the Boston Red Sox, making St. Louis his third organization in roughly a year.
May has a 3-6 record with a 4.59 earned run average in 12 starts this season. Romero, a lefty, carries a 3.54 ERA over 28 innings out of the bullpen. Both pitchers will become free agents after the 2026 season, which makes them straightforward trade pieces for a front office weighing the team’s chances against an even stronger rebuild.
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The situation is more of a question of not if, but when. As long as St. Louis holds a playoff spot, there is little reason to part with rotation depth or late-inning help. A slide down the standings as the season inches closer to the trade deadline would shift the Cardinals’ thinking.
