The Mariners announced this evening that relievers Sergio Romo and Joey Gerber have each cleared waivers and been granted their unconditional release. Both pitchers were designated for assignment in recent days and are now free agents.
Romo is the more accomplished and well-known of the duo. A 15-year MLB veteran, the righty has earned an All-Star nod and was part of three World Series teams with the Giants. He owns a career 3.20 ERA through 719 innings spread across seven teams. Romo’s low arm slot and wipeout slider have allowed him to particularly dominate right-handed opponents throughout his career, but he’s generally been quite good against batters from both sides of the dish.
That hasn’t been the case in 2022, however, as Romo’s stint in Seattle didn’t pan out. He allowed 13 runs in 14 1/3 innings as a Mariner, serving up six longballs in that limited time. Romo was tagged for homers in each of his final two appearances, and the M’s moved on from him on Monday. They’ll remain on the hook for the balance of his $2MM salary, with any signing club only responsible for the league minimum for any time Romo spends on their active roster (which would be subtracted from Seattle’s tab).
Gerber, 25, is in a much different spot of his career. He has just 17 MLB appearances to his name, all of which came back in 2020. The former eighth-round pick spent all of last season on the minor league injured list, and that’s more or less been the case this year as well. Gerber was dealing with a forearm strain in Spring Training; he made one rehab outing in rookie ball a few weeks back but hasn’t pitched since that point.
Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so Gerber’s release was a formality once the M’s took him off the 40-man roster. It’s possible they’ll look to bring him back via minor league deal now that he’s passed through waivers, but he’s free to explore similar opportunities elsewhere.
Gerber was released because his name was too much like a baby food brand.
He was puréed off the roster
He strained for a lower ERA.
At 6’4, 215 lbs this guy looks good. IL with a forearm strain. Yea, here come the baby food jokes. I don’t carrot what they say
Suffered a herniated disk in his back last year as well. Had to have surgery for it. Doesn’t matter what size they are, some guys’ bodies can’t handle the physical toll professional baseball takes.
Wow, it took Dipoto too long to recognize Romo need to be booted out after all the damages he had contributed to the him. Next, boot out Dipoto and Servais.
Also, Rick Rizzs, a good man, but he needs to stop jinxing the games by praising the M’s and its players during a close or critical part of the games. Unfortunately, team’s lack of success so far is causing superstition to rise out of frustration.
If Dipoto gets the boot this season, I’ll be shocked. 2023 was the competitive target all along and he’s only 8 months removed from an extension. I think we all got a little too excited following a 90 win season in which we were projected for about 70-75 wins.
Imagine living in 2022 and believing some BS such as announcers having an actual effect on the outcome of games is a thing. Mariners are losing close games because of lack of talent and aren’t as lucky in clutch moments as they were last year. Anyone who’s watched one game or even looked at a stat sheet would know that they’re just terrible this year, and Rizzs talking out of his ass has nothing to do with it.
I know he isn’t left handed, but would be an upgrade over McFarland for the cards
I’d take Romo on the Mets at this point since most of their relievers are terrible. Maybe Hefner can fix up Romo. The only Mets relievers I trust are Diaz and Ottavino. Tommy Hunter I would trust but he just had back surgery so theres no telling how well hes gonna pitch. Lugo and Drew Smith constantly blow close games. They only pitch well when the Mets are losing
With Giles back and Brash dominating as a reliever in AAA suddenly the bullpen doesn’t look quite as bad. They have underperformed thus far absolutely but there’s some nice arms there, man.
+Munoz, Castillo, Sewald and Swanson. Starting to shape up
Romo to the Mets
Sure if the Mets want to miss the playoffs again.
If the orioles make the left field wall 50 feet higher he would be nice pitching for the O’s
I’d never heard of Joey Gerber before, but this thread made me check out his Twitter page and now I’m his biggest fan. He’ll be OK no matter what happens next:
twitter.com/gerb_nation?t=NC2T5xJqavtZNGRh1vlmmA&#…