Veteran reliever Sergio Romo has signed with the Giants on a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. According to Baggarly, the plan is for Romo to pitch in the team’s Bay Bridge exhibition against the A’s at Oracle Park towards the end of Spring Training as a farewell tour for Romo, who pitched in nine seasons for the Giants and won the World Series with the club in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Though he didn’t specifically use the word “retire,” the right-hander spoke very much like someone who expects this to be a ceremonial final stop.
“I’m not coming here to make a team,” Romo tells Baggarly. “I can’t make this team right now. Mainly I’m not trying to. I like where I am in life, seeing my kids as often as I can.”
Romo’s career began in San Francisco in 2008, his age-25 season. He impressed in his debut campaign, posting a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings of work. After a difficult 2009 season where Romo’s ERA was nearly two runs higher than his FIP, he returned to form in a 2010 season that would kick off a four-year stretch of utter dominance. During that time, he posted a sterling 2.03 ERA (178 ERA+) in 225 2/3 innings while striking out 261. That four-year stretch saw Romo collect two World Series rings (one of which he earned by striking out Miguel Cabrera to end the 2012 World Series) and his sole career All-Star appearance.
The 2014 season was something of a step back for Romo, however, even as his club won its third World Series in five years. Romo posted his first below average season of his career by ERA+. His 3.72 ERA was 7% worse than league average by that metric, and unlike his difficult 2009 season, his FIP wasn’t up to his previous standards either, standing at 3.94. Fortunately, Romo would return to form as an above-average reliever for his last two seasons in a Giants uniform, posting a 2.87 ERA (137 ERA+) in 88 innings of work, with an even stronger 2.57 FIP.
Ultimately, Romo was a phenomenal reliever during his tenure with San Francisco, pitching to a 2.58 ERA (146 ERA+) in 515 games while striking out 498 and collecting 87 saves. He also pitched well in the postseason, posting a 3.06 ERA in his 23 1/3 innings of work for the Giants in the postseason, including six scoreless appearances in World Series games.
In the six years following his departure from the Giants organization, Romo would pitch for seven different organizations: the Dodgers, Rays, Marlins, Twins, A’s, and Blue Jays. Despite those years accounting for his mid-to-late thirties, Romo was still a league average reliever during that time, with his 4.20 ERA over those 283 innings translating to an ERA+ of exactly 100.
In the event that this marks the end of his career, Romo, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this month, will have appeared in 821 regular season games while finishing 301 over his decade and a half tenure in the major leagues, with a 3.21 career ERA. He also racked up 137 saves and 204 holds along the way.
This is awesome! His 88 mph fastball in the World Series to ice Miggy Cabrera was one of the dirtiest pitches I’ve ever seen
It’s the million sliders he threw before that iced him
Nobody could hit that slider.
They all knew it was coming, wouldn’t be a strike, but could not lay off it.
Basically a career making pitch.
Agree completely. A great career. And this from a Dodger fan. Congrats Mr Romo and best wishes to you and your family.
Hope to see you host a chat here soon!!
No dot = no hit
i hated the guy but in a good way he did help send my birds home in 12 and 14 in all seriousness guy had heck of a career 3 ws and 15+ years
That pitch was one of those sporting moments where you don’t jump and cheer, but just sit back and laugh at the utter audacity and awesomeness of it. I never thought that’s how I’d react to winning a World Series.
Godspeed and thanks for so many great memories, Sergio.
Have a great retirement Romo. You were the ultimate junkballer and turned it into a long MLB career. Now go spend time with your kids.
Awwwwwww that was sweet
Good for romo welcome home brother!
7 paragraphs about this? Come on MLBTR there are much bigger stories happening right now.
You must be fun during the holidays
Yeah they shouldn’t be covering multiple stories at once, right?
I’d hate to see what your parties are like. If I were at a party and someone talked 7 paragraphs worth about a retiring mlb player, I would try to change the subject.
“multiple stories”? I count two today and one is about a retirement party. How about a story about the Pirates and their surplus of outfielders. I guess that has too much ‘trade rumors’ for you guys.
You didn’t write the 7 paragraphs. Not your problem.
Rsmith, do us all a favor and go play in traffic.
rsmith: First you complain that there are bigger stories to cover, then complain that there’s only two so far today. The Pirates OF is a legitimate basis for an article, but there is no time aspect to it. That story can be done tomorrow, or even next week. The Romo story is current.
And basically you’re commenting, and passing judgement, on other people’s interest. At this point there are nearly 50 comments, almost all positive, except for yours telling us we shouldn’t care about this. If you’re not interested, fine. Don’t read it, but it takes a certain type, I guess, to tell others they shouldn’t be interested either.
go touch grass
Like what?
Grab a snickers and maybe don’t click on and read the entire story
Maybe you need a snickers too, since your only post in this article is to complain about me.
@rsmith – Sitting there counting paragraphs in an article that is of no interest to you, then commenting about it, seems like a weird solution to having too much free time on your hands. Maybe find a hobby to fill that time?
Just don’t make that hobby reading articles about baseball. That doesn’t seem to be a very good fit.
disadvantage:
If it were 7 paragraphs on the 8th article of the day, then you have a point. But, its not. To do it when theres almost nothing else here, come on. Spring training is in full swing and there are lots of stories being created every day.
How about an article about:
“Pirates have an abundance of outfielders, what will they do”
“Mets lose Diaz, how they’ll fill there closer role”
“Yankees projected rotation continues to suffer bad news”
The last one is real article I just read, and its worlds more interesting than this one. If you want to dumb down my point that a 7 paragraph article about a retirement is a total waste of resources, go ahead. But, Ive got a completely valid point. You guys got waaay too butt-hurt about my comment.
rsmith-enough already, be quiet and respect the slider
@rsmith
“Spring training is in full swing and there are lots of stories being created every day.”
– You do realize that this is literally an article created from one of the stories created from Spring Training, right? And might I add a darn good one, too.
So they’re writing about the exact thing you’re complaining about, but it’s bad because… it’s too many paragraphs?? That’s a weird hill to die on.
I’m on your side rsmith. These commenters on here are the most overthinking people on the internet. Say one thing and it comes back at you from all angles. Insanity all around.
Run away quickly
@rsmith
Ironically you wrote 7 paragraphs complaining about reading someone who wrote 7 paragraphs..
An article about the Pirates outfield situation would be cool though.
They have already done many articles about the Pirates outfield
Actually, no, not for Giants fans.
rsmith. Bigger stories? Cool. Please send us a link to your website and I’ll read them.
Thank you.
rsmith — Sergio Romo has to be one of the most beloved Giants of the past twenty years. I wish I could be there for his farewell, but you obviously did not follow his career and don’t appreciate his special character. Yay, Sergio!
Nice. Romo catching Cabrera looking with one of his low velo fastballs is forever burned in my memory. It sparked a solo Puerto Rico type celebration. Enjoy the love, Sergio.
Top 50 in all time appearances. Always an entertaining interview.
It’s over, carrer done
So is your spelling test. Pencils down!
0523…come on…admit it. Throttling a cubs fan really isnt hard to do? Most times, they prove it for you.
I was fortunate enough to take my kids to one of the best ballpark promotions ever. The Sergio Romo superhero socks. Black socks with Romo’s number on them and a little cape hanging off the back. Thanks for the memories, Sergio!
Brilliant!!
3 WS rings in a career with 14 years of service time. That is a very successful MLB career. Best of luck in retirement.
The kid from Brawley made good. What a fantastic career from a guy that said he would have been a “lettuce picker” if he had not made it as a professional baseball player.
Sure glad you made it out of the fields and onto the baseball field Sergio. You were one of the most entertaining players on those Giants WS teams. Will never forget you striking out Miggy with your BP fastball.
Have a great time with your children. You earned it.
Romo was always an interesting guy to have on the mound and always an interesting interview. Pretty sure he dropped his trousers while on the mound for the A’s once too. A nice solace for Giants fans is he was awful for the Dodgers when he pitched there.
Nonetheless though over 820 appearances, 137 Saves and two World Series rings is a pretty darn good career. Enjoy retirement Sergio.
*3 WS rings
Yep completely forgot he was there in ’10 as one of “The Beards” setup men
He did drop trow on an umpire inspection. Maybe he will do it again in the bay bridge series.
He could have boxers on that say goodbye across the back.
I love this. Pitching in front of the hometown crowd is such a better way to go out than signing a one-day contract and having a press conference.
Classy move on the Giants’ part.
I’m a Dodger fan but SFG has my respect.
Exactly. Speaks well of the culture of the organization.
Giants should put this guy in their HOF. He really was a big part of their World Series teams. Awesome beard too!
He’s a lock for that, along with the rest of the “core four” bullpen members (Affeldt, Casilla, and Lopez) who were all absolutely lights out on the biggest stage in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
Very long and solid career with 3 WS rings, hard to ask for much more than that
retire out on the team you help get to a world series.
Great guy, always smiling…….clutch guy most of his early career…..enjoy your retirement
It was a pleasure getting to know Sergio in person. Funny guy. One of the funniest I’ve ever met. Many blessings when this tour is over!
His Dodger family won’t like it
And that’s what’s up
Romo was one very popular player when he was with the Giants. Glad he’s coming back to SF to close out his great career. Always loved watching him.
Sergio Romo =
FOREVER SF GIANT !!!
He made me nervous a couple hundred times, but he was quite simply the best !! You have one more save in you Sergio and then point to the sky. Awesome Dude !!
Like all Giants fan, we will always have a spot for Romo within the Giants Family/Org.