3 Cardinals trade deadline deals from last year that have turned against them

3) Cardinals trade turning against them: Edmundo Sosa for JoJo Romero

The best, most minor yet unexpected but also important trade of all made at last year’s trade deadline was the swapping between the Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. Infielder Edmundo Sosa was practically a non-entity on the St. Louis roster. Hitting .189/.244/.270 at the time of the deal, the Phillies acquired him in exchange for lefty reliever JoJo Romero.

Sosa took off immediately in Philadelphia. He batted .315/.345/.593 for them in 2022 in their miraculous quest for a National League Pennant that began by eliminating the Cardinals in the NLWC. He has supplemented them often at third base this year, only recently seeing his numbers start to decline.

It’s still looking like a better deal for the Phillies. After pitching to a quality 3.77 ERA out of the bullpen for the Cardinals last year, he gave them a 3.52 ERA performance this season in 7.2 innings. The earned run average is a little overblown, though. Control has been a big issue throughout his career. Both last year and this season, Romero has averaged nearly 6 walks per 9 innings of work for the Cardinals.

Romero remains a work in progress with much of his 2023 season spent in Triple-A. He has some awesome stuff but what good is it if he can’t find the plate?

This Cardinals trade still has a chance to turn around in their favor. The same cannot be said about sending Oviedo and Nunez to the Pirates. Who else feels like that’s going to haunt them in a big way at some point?