Blue Jays right-hander Jordan Romano underwent arthroscopic surgery today to repair an impingement in his throwing elbow. Manager John Schneider relayed the news to the club’s beat, with Keegan Matheson of MLB.com among those to relay the news on X. The closer will be shut down from throwing for at least six weeks, with his potential return this season dependant on how things progress from that point.
Romano’s elbow has been an issue all year long. The 31-year-old was shut down during Spring Training due to some inflammation and began the season on the 15-day injured list. He was able to come off the IL by mid-April but struggled, with a 6.59 earned run average in 15 appearances. He was placed back on the IL at the start of June, again due to inflammation in that elbow. He seemed to be on the road to rejoining the club last month but was shut down due to some more soreness about two weeks ago.
On the weekend, there was an ominous update. Schneider told reporters that Romano was going to visit Dr. Keith Meister, who has been a key figure in developing the internal brace/Tommy John surgery hybrid.
Relative to the worst-case scenario evoked by that doctor visit, today’s update counts as good news. A Tommy John surgery comes with a timeline of more than a year, which would have definitely ended Romano’s 2024 and even made it difficult for him to pitch next year.
This procedure’s six-week no-throw timeline is far better than that but still not great for Romano or the Jays. Once he starts throwing again, it will be the middle of August and he will have to ramp things back up from there, which is why it’s still questionable whether he can return this season at all.
The Jays are currently 39-46 and on the fringes of contention, currently seven games back of a playoff spot. A disappointing bullpen has been a big part of their struggles, as the club’s relievers had a collective 3.68 ERA last year, a top ten mark in the majors. This year, the relief corps has a 4.73 ERA, better than just the Angels and Rockies. That’s been partly due to Romano, but also pitchers like Erik Swanson and Tim Mayza have struggled and Yimi García has been on the injured list for a while.
The Jays will have to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks about whether they are buyers or sellers, and the loss of Romano will be hurtful on either path. Over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, he racked up 95 saves, trailing only Emmanuel Clase, Kenley Jansen and Josh Hader. He had a 2.37 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate in that stretch.
Getting Romano healthy and back in that form could have played a role in getting them back in the playoff race. Conversely, if the club eventually takes the seller path, Romano would have been an attractive trade candidate. He is making $7.75MM this year and has one year of arbitration control remaining. Now that he’s potentially out for the year, he won’t be able to help the Jays steady the ship nor will he be able to bring back young talent in a deadline deal. Players on the IL can be traded but the offers would surely be unpalatable to the Jays right now, given Romano’s current health status.
If the Jays can stay in the playoff race for the next few months, perhaps the return of Romano will be a key storyline to watch, as he could serve as a fresh arm in September and/or October. Or if the club is out of it, the club would surely like to see him back on the mound before deciding whether or not to tender him a contract for next year.
He won’t be able to command a huge arbitration raise since his work this year has been so limited and also ineffective. Having Romano back to genuine closer status at around $8MM for one year would still be a huge bargain, though if the elbow issues linger and there’s a chance of him missing any of 2025, that would obviously change the calculus there.
They should shut him down for the year.
I imagine at the very least they’d like to get him back on the mound by the end of the season so he could prove to himself that he is healthy going in to the offseason.
More likely scenario is he makes it back and 3 pitches in hears a pop and needs TJ
Go back to your room!
agreed. the concern that he’ll eventually still need TJ is real. Baltimore’s Bradish tried PRP and that was ultimately not successful but I’m not sure the difference of a elbow “impingement”. Best of luck to Romano though, hope the arthroscopic procedure does it and he can get back to his dominating role.
they shoulda done this 3 months ago. blue jays team doctor must be dr. seuss
He was healthy until May 30th….
do you follow baseball? romano has been hurt with elbow inflammation since march. he was on the DL before the season even started. they brought him back for a week, then shut him down again and back on the DL
He pitched in 15 games that week???
Between April 16 and May 29, Romano made 15 games appearances. However, don’t let facts get in the way from you attacking others due to your utter ignorance and anger.
15 appearances where he did not look himself.
Dr. Summeroff….
the guy was hurt with elbow inflammation all season long. going back to march. he was on the DL, off the DL, in the minors, in the majors, back on the DL. romano has thrown 13 innings in 2024. to the tune of a 6.59 era. he’s been fighting thru pain all year. he shoulda been shut down a while ago, had the surgery, back by the AS break or august. jesus f’in christ you are classic gaslighters. with zero clue about baseball. zero clue about romano. i’m the idiot actually. bec i waste my time responding to you. attacking? who the f was i attacking? anyway have a good one ya’ll . watch a game sometime, learn something
Argument can be made Romano was battling this at the end of 2023.