Phillies sign closer Romano to one-year contract
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
Closer Jordan Romano signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, the team announced Monday, fortifying a bullpen that served as a strength during the regular season but crumbled in the playoffs.
The deal is worth $8.5 million, according to multiple reports.
Romano, 31, was nontendered by the Toronto Blue Jays after an injury-riddled year that ended with him undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow. Over the prior four seasons, Romano had been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball, posting a 2.29 ERA in 200⅔ innings with 251 strikeouts and 75 walks. The deal is pending a physical.
Rather than go to arbitration with Romano — where his salary was projected to remain around the $7.75 million he earned this year after posting a 6.59 ERA in 13⅔ innings — or trade him, Toronto declining to offer Romano a contract led to his free agency.
“Everyone loves him,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I spoke to him after we non-tendered him, and he understood it. Very professional about it. I haven’t heard back from him yet today, but he was great. He was kind of what we stood for in how he went about his business, the teammate that he was, the intensity in which he competed with.”
Philadelphia pounced quickly, looking to replace All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman and right-hander Carlos Estevez, who reached free agency. Romano will join a bullpen that returns All-Star Matt Strahm, right-hander Orion Kerkering and hard-throwing lefties Jose Alvarado and Gregory Soto.
After winning the National League East with a 95-67 record, the Phillies got bounced in their first playoff series against the New York Mets, who finished six games behind them in the division. The Phillies blew leads in the sixth inning or later in three of the series’ four games. Philadelphia entered the winter looking to shake up its roster, and though no trades have materialized, the Phillies saw a high-upside opportunity with Romano.
While his health will determine his effectiveness — “We have no medical concerns” about Romano, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said last week — the two-time All-Star combines a fastball that sits 95 to 97 mph with a swing-and-miss slider he throws about half the time. If that level of stuff shows up in spring training, Romano could be in line for save opportunities, with manager Rob Thomson this season using eight different relievers to close games.
Over his six-year career, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Romano has saved 105 games with 285 strikeouts and 88 walks in 229⅔ innings. From 2021 to 2023, Romano earned the most Baseball-Reference wins above replacement of any reliever in baseball, with 7.4, more than one WAR ahead of second-place Devin Williams.
The Baltimore Orioles are “very, very hopeful” that star shortstop Gunnar Henderson (intercostal strain) will be ready for Opening Day.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters Wednesday that Henderson suffered a mild strain on his right side.
“I’m very, very hopeful. But we’re going to not push a strain there, and we want to make sure that he gets it taken care of. It’s one of those sensitive areas where we don’t want anything to reoccur,” Hyde said.
Henderson departed last Thursday’s 11-8 spring training victory over the Toronto Blue Jays after the first inning with what the team termed “lower right side discomfort.” Henderson made a leaping catch in the top of the first inning and apparently felt soreness after hitting the ground.
Henderson is batting .167 in six plate appearances so far this spring.
The 2023 American League Rookie of the Year earned his first All-Star nod in 2024 batting .281/.364/.529 with 37 home runs and 92 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases. He finished fourth in MVP balloting.
Henderson dealt with a left oblique injury during spring training in 2024 but recovered in time for the start of the regular season.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – New Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker was scratched from the lineup for a spring training game Wednesday because of soreness in his left oblique.
Walker missed more than a month last season with Arizona because of a strained left oblique muscle. He joined the Astros on a $60 million, three-year contract during the offseason.
In his first four spring training games for Houston, Walker was 4 for 8 with three doubles. He also had two walks.
Adding a first baseman over the offseason was a priority for the Astros after struggling Jose Abreu was released less than halfway through a $58.5 million, three-year contract.
Walker, who turns 34 on March 28, hit .251 with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs in 130 games for the Diamondbacks last season. He won his third consecutive Gold Glove at first base.
In 832 big league games, Walker has hit .250 with 147 homers. All but 13 of those games came with Arizona over the past eight seasons, after his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2014 and 2015.
Walker had two stints on the injured list because of right oblique issues in 2021. He played 160 games in 2022 and 157 in 2023, hitting 69 homers and driving in 197 runs combined over those two seasons.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Hall of Fame made some small adjustments to its veterans committee system to limit people with relatively little support from repeatedly remaining on future ballots, a decision that could make it harder to gain entry to Cooperstown for steroids-tainted stars such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Any candidate on the eight-person ballot who receives fewer than five votes from the 16-member panel will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle, the hall said Wednesday. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.
Bonds, Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Albert Belle each received fewer than four votes in December 2022, when Fred McGriff was a unanimous pick. Bonds and Clemens were on a hall ballot for the first time since their 10th and final appearances on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. The rules change could limit reappraisals of their candidacies.
In addition, the historical overview committee appointed by the BBWAA that selects the ballot candidates must also be approved by the hall’s board of directors. The hall said the decisions were made by its board during a Feb. 26 meeting in Orlando, Florida.
In 2022, the hall restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.
Each committee meets every three years: contemporary players from 1980 on will be considered this December; managers, executives and umpires from 1980 on in December 2026; and pre-1980 candidates in December 2027.
Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected last December and manager Jim Leyland in December 2023.
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