The Philadelphia Phillies completed a minor trade Saturday afternoon, and did so with one of the teams they are competing for a National League Wild Card spot with.
Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic were the first to report that the Phillies have acquired infielder Edmundo Sosa from the St. Louis Cardinals. The team has since confirmed the trade, announcing that left-handed reliever JoJo Romero will head to St. Louis in the deal.
Sosa has slashed .245/.318/.350 with a .668 OPS in 177 games spanning parts of four seasons with the Cardinals. The 26-year-old is an excellent defender, as he has 13 career defensive runs saved and seven outs above average at shortstop, with some experience at second base and third base as well. As a team, the Phillies are 27th in the league with -26 defensive runs saved and -19 outs above average.
Romero — who recently returned from Tommy John surgery — had a 7.89 ERA in 25 career major league appearances. He had been pitching for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs after allowing three runs in his first two relief appearances with the Phillies in 2022.
It’s definitely an interesting time for the Phillies and Cardinals to complete a trade, given that they are both 53-47 and tied for the final Wild Card spot in the senior circuit. The Phillies do own the tiebreaker over the Cardinals given that they won the season series over the Red Birds 4-3.