Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: JoJo Romero
Stats: 7-3, 1 SV, 65 G, 59.0 IP, 52 H, 8 HR, 16 BB, 51 K, 3.36 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 1.153 WHIP, 0.9 bWAR
Statcast: 10.5% barrel, 34.5% sweet spot, 114.3 max exit velocity, .305 wOBA, .346 xwOBA, 21.0 K%, 6.6 BB%
Grade: B
The overall numbers weren’t terrible for Romero but they definitely didn’t come easily. Romero was cruising in the first half of the season. He allowed a .624 OPS and had a 2.43 ERA. He was a reliable 8th inning guy in front of Ryan Helsley. The guy that once was traded for Edmundo Sosa just because the Cards had a roster crunch was showing that he was the better player in that deal (though Sosa has done well in Philadelphia.)
The second half was a little different. July was shaky, as he allowed a .357 batting average against, but a lot of it was without power and the ERA for the month was 1.42. August was good, but the bottom dropped out in September with six runs in 6.1 innings. However, that wasn’t quite as bad as it seems as he was charged with four runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Guardians in his last outing of the season. A couple of days after that, he hit the IL and remained there for the rest of the season. Still, he finished in the bottom 10% or worse in most of Statcast’s expected stats and it’s hard to think one outing was the cause of all that. Perhaps the injury was around earlier than expected, maybe he just regressed a bit after a strong start. Whatever the case, he was still an asset, just not as much of an automatic one.
What’s in store for 2025: There’s been some general rumor talk about Romero being a possible trade candidate. He’d definitely have some surplus value, just now going into his second arbitration off-season. If the Cardinals believe that those expected outcomes are likely to be a flashing indicator on his dashboard, it would make sense for them to sell high. Odds are they won’t, especially if they move Helsley, but there’s definitely an argument for it. Instead, without Helsley, he’ll probably get first chance at the save opportunities next season.
