4 Cardinals who will no longer be on the roster by June 1

The Cardinals have gotten off to their worst in 50 years. Changes must be made to right the course, but who will the team move? 

The Cardinals broke a frustrating eight-game losing streak Sunday that has fallen within the worst start the storied organization has had.

With so much drama involving the pitching staff struggling to execute pitches combined with the new pitching clock and a new catcher filling in for an organizational legend, a lot is going on, and a lot needs to be done to simmer the drama within the organization. Sunday’s 12-6 win over the Tigers, plus honesty from John Mozeliak, team president of baseball operations, regarding what’s going on with the pitching staff and Willson Contreras’ status with the team, did help some.

Mozeliak informed Katie J. Woo of The Athletic (subscription only) that Contreras wasn’t losing his catching job after signing a five-year deal worth $87.5 million. Instead, he would become the team designated hitter while learning the aspects of “The Cardinal Way” of handling catching duties. While it seems like a head-scratcher to put this on a player who has been an All-Star catcher, it’s what the organization wants to do to help bring some stability while the pitchers get used to the pitching clock, a new pitching coach and better executing their pitches.

Unfortunately, it was presented initially by manager Oli Marmol in a manner that created more of an issue than necessary.

While the starting rotation tries to get on track after struggling to execute pitches, some deals may have to be completed to help a taxed rotation and bullpen. Let’s look at some players the team may have to move and may be gone from the roster by June 1.

Jojo Romero may be off the Cardinals roster by June 1

Romero had a bad day Sunday, pitching one-third of an inning. He gave up a walk and one hit. That hit was a grand slam home run to Jake Rogers, which created a blown save for Romero. The game was 6-3 after the home run.

In previous games this season, that home run would have resulted in the Cardinals giving up and losing in another horrible way. Instead, the Cards were able to battle back and win the game, but outings like Romero had can not become a regular occurrence.

Romero has an ERA of 3.52 over six games. In 7.2 innings, he’s given up five walks, four hits, three earned runs, and Sunday’s grand slam home run.

The Cards need a solid arm to throw strikes and get outs, not create unnecessary excitement with their outing.

The team will likely be forced to option Romero to create an opportunity to bring in a more stable relief arm.