February 11: Romano cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville, per the Reds.
February 5: The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Sal Romano for assignment. His removal from the 40-man roster opens a spot for righty Pedro Strop, whose previously reported one-year deal in Cincinnati is now official.
Romano, 26, has shown some promise with the Reds in the upper minors and turned in a solid, albeit unspectacular debut effort back in 2017 when he tossed 87 innings of 4.45 ERA ball (4.24 FIP). Romano averaged 7.6 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 0.93 HR/9 to go along with a strong 50.4 percent ground-ball rate in that rookie showing and looked like a potential back-end starter for what was then a still-rebuilding Reds club.
In the two years since that time, however, Romano’s results in the big leagues have cratered. He started 25 games in 2018 and made another 14 relief appearances but saw his ERA balloon to 5.31 as his strikeout rate (6.5 K/9), home-run rate (1.42 HR/9) and grounder rate (45.4 percent) went in the wrong direction. Romano did have some success in his 14 1/3 innings as a reliever that season, so the Reds tried him out as a full-time bullpen piece in 2019, but that experiment didn’t yield better results; Romano pitched to a 4.28 ERA in Triple-A and allowed 14 runs on 22 hits and eight walks in 16 1/3 big league innings (7.71 ERA).
The Reds will now have a week to trade Romano, release him or place him on outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that acquires him will either need to carry him on the Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment once again during Spring Training.
curious to see if he can get back on track if moves back to the rotation full time
The problem is he’s never gotten on track
And he’s never going to get back into a rotation to get the chance
He’s a multi inning reliever. He can go through a line-up once, twice is when he ran into trouble. He could be a good 7th inning guy I think.
The pitcher with a catcher’s name.
Good
Wow, I did not see Sal Ramano being DFA. I know he was out of options and a lot of RP are in camp. But, I thought he would at least be able to compete in camp.
He can still compete in camp, assuming he clears waivers.
He’s awful. This was another brainer. Career 5.17 ERA and 4.31 in the minors. There is NO upside here…
stats don’t necessarily tell the full story with him. he definitely still has some potential
Yes he does. He’s a likable guy too. Hopefully he pitches well enough to win a roster spot.
Never had a winning record (other than 1-0 at Cincinnati last year). Not even in the minors.
Yeah, that matters
Winning is all that matters.
Using wins as a method to evaluate a pitcher’s effectiveness is silly because so many variables beyond the pitcher’s control contribute to receiving a win or a loss.
To bad. He was from the same town as Rob Dibble. Good luck Sal.
First Siri and now Romano. These are guys other clubs will want for depth and to take a chance on. This moves reflect how deep this team has become with MLB talent (albeit not superstars).
Slow your role. They are still the Reds and on paper the 2nd best team in their division. Trimming the fat on the steak but still have more to go until they get to the meat.
A shame. ’cause he’s got good velo and movement. But he’s a thrower who leaves too many pitches up.. Good flier for non-contending teams tho.
Over the past couple seasons I was always fearful for the spectators sitting in the 39-40 rows. Any of them was in high risk of being “beaned” by a pitch as soon as Romano released it. Romano is a very likeable kid and I sure hope that he can sign on soon with another team. So many times just a change of scenery makes a big difference.
Always makes me think of Sal Fasano and his epic facial hair.
Could absolutely see him going someplace like the Marlins or Orioles and figuring things out. Hard worker, good guy, I wish him the best.
Why do the Reds still have a Rule 5 outfielder on their roster? No way Mark Payton makes that team with all their other OFs.
Unless… They are planning a trade…
Or maybe they have health concerns about both Nick Senzel and Jesse Winker to start the season.
You are always going to have health concerns about Nick Senzel – especially since he has already shown he can’t stay healthy.
To this point Sal never learned to be a pitcher versus a thrower. Remains to be seen if he will. He has some good action if he does.
sal in spanish is salt