Yankees identify lefty target to strengthen bullpen

The New York Yankees could use some help in the bullpen right now.

Mark Leiter Jr. and Devin Williams are no longer in the Bronx, and they might also lose Luke Weaver in free agency.

With that in mind, they've set their sights on St. Louis Cardinals southpaw JoJo Romero, according to a report by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

The Cardinals have reportedly fielded calls for the veteran lefty, who's coming off a career-best season with the Red Birds.

Yankees could target JoJo Romero, but there are some concerns

Romero could provide Aaron Boone's team with a major boost, as Ryan Yarbrough, the team's high-profile lefty reliever, is more of a long reliever. He should also be an upgrade over Tim Hill, Jayvien Sandridge and Brent Headrick.

The former Philadelphia Phillies standout logged a 1.90 K/BB ratio in 61 innings of work.

However, he had just 55 strikeouts and he struggled with control. That issue has plagued him since his early career days, so it's hard to believe that's going to change at this point. 

Romero will make roughly $4.4 million in the final season of arbitration control. The Cardinals are most likely going to blow up the roster, so there's not much of an incentive to keep him around.

The lack of strikeouts and the high walk rate (11.4 percent, per Baseball Reference) will obviously be a concern, but he usually does a good job of avoiding hard contact, and he's gotten better in every season with the Cardinals.