After an injury-riddled season that cast doubt on one of their most popular players, the Blue Jays are walking away from their Canadian closer, Jordan Romano.
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The team opted to non-tender the 31-year-old reliever prior to Friday’s 8 p.m. deadline, making Romano a free agent, for the time being at least.
Romano, who was projected to earn $7.75 million US in 2025 (according to pre-arbitration figures) in theory still has an opportunity to negotiate a deal with the team that would return him to the Toronto bullpen.
But he’s also free to pursue free agency putting the Jays at risk of losing a pitcher who has the third most saves in franchise history for nothing. It’s possible that the Jays and Romano could negotiate a deal at a lesser number but loaded with incentives based on performance.
From a team perspective, it’s clear that there was concern about the health of Romano after he made just 15 appearances in a 2024 season the Markham, Ont., native would rather forget. His season was shut down on July 2 when he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair an impingement in his right elbow.
A source told the Toronto Sun that the Jays would have liked to see Romano in action to determine the strength of the elbow but that did not happen. From Romano’s perspective, it would have been an awkward time to throw game simulation given his recovery and the fact that he would be in some early stages of building for spring training.
The move figures to be unpopular among Jays fans, who made Romano a fan favourite during his parts of six seasons with the team. A front office that is already facing considerable backlash over the team’s descent into last place in the American League East will take another blow in that regard.
That said, it’s probably best to see how it all plays out before the final evaluation is in. General manager Ross Atkins, at his season-ending press conference last month, hardly issued a ringing endorsement of Romano’s future with the team.
“I mean, he’s got to come back and be the pitcher (he’s been in the past),” Atkins said, when asked whether Romano could the the team’s closer in 2025. “I don’t want to just lay my head on the pillow and say ‘OK, that’s covered.’ I want to be open to it, depending upon his return, depending on how he’s feeling.”
In other words, the GM was keeping the door wide open for what happened on Friday.
Romano, who lives in Florida in the off-season, told the Sun that he’s been working out regularly at the team’s player development complex in Dunedin as he recovers from the procedure that ended his season so early.