Right-hander Jordan Romano has been released by the Angels, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment a couple of days ago. He’ll now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity.
Players with at least five years of major league service time have the right to reject outright assignments to the minor leagues, instead electing free agency while retaining their salaries. The Halos have seemingly skipped that formality and opted to release Romano. They will remain on the hook for the remainder of his $2MM salary for now. Another club could sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Angels pay.
Any interest from other clubs would not be based on recent trends. Romano has had a tough time in the past few years. He was injured for much of the 2024 season with the Blue Jays. He signed with the Phillies last year and had awful results. The Angels tried to get a bounceback but didn’t succeed. Between those three clubs, he has tossed 64 1/3 innings since the start of 2024, allowing 8.11 earned runs per nine.
That number probably overstates how poorly Romano has pitched. His 9.3% walk rate in that time was close to average, while his strikeout rate of 24.7% was a couple of ticks better than par. An 18.1% home run to fly ball rate didn’t help. His .331 batting average on balls in play and 54.2% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. His 5.43 FIP for that time wasn’t good but far better than his ERA. On the wildly optimistic side, Romano actually has a 3.71 SIERA in that span.
Rather than sifting for positives in recent numbers, Romano’s potential is best shown in his more distant past. From 2020 to 2023, he posted a 2.29 ERA in 200 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays. He racked up 97 saves in that time with a 30.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate.
He hasn’t been nearly as effective since, as mentioned. Despite some optimistic underlying data, getting back to that level will be difficult with such diminished stuff. Romano averaged 97.6 miles per hour on his four-seamer back in 2021. That number has ticked down every year since and has been at 94.5 mph so far in 2026. Similarly, his slider is more than 4 mph down from its peak.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
He’s not very good anymore but teams seem to like signing him so I’m sure he’ll be off the market again shortly.
It’s been two times…
So a guy who hasn’t been good in several years wasn’t good this year?
I’m shocked.
Good thing we let that Brock Burke guy go, though. Who needs a good reliever when you can have a bad outfielder?
@halosheavenJJ. He was the first one i thought was going to cut. I was optimistic about yates, Stephenson and Joyce.
I am optimistic about Yates working with Maddux again.
It is fine for fans to hopeful about Stephenson and Joyce but for an organization to plan its bullpen around two injured guys is truly idiotic.
@halosheavenJJ. Stephenson sounded fine until he pitches a inning. Its a common theme. Just saying it sounded good at one point, but it fell off quick. I just knew Romano was the first domino to fall. Out of the signings.
Those two Minasian trades have really stung. Lowe/Burke and Rodriguez/Ward.
Imagine if the Angels had Taylor Ward in the lineup with Brock Burke in the pen?!
And imagine if Minasian resigned Kenley Jansen instead of signing Yates, Romano and Pomeranz to guaranteed contracts?!
Even if the Ward trade goes down so the team saves money.
Simply keeping Burke then allowing Rada to play a great CF and get on base at the top of the lineup is a huge swing. Then take the Ward savings and resign Jansen.
Better defense, better team OBP, better bullpen, level payroll.
He just has trouble keeping the ball down.
Also can’t throw a strike to save his life.
Any pitcher getting released by the Angels has hit rock bottom!
Chicago Cubs need another bullpen arm to send to the injured list.
That’s what I was wondering…. How long until CC in Chicago has him looking “serviceable” again…. Until of course a big moment in an important game….but we’re only just approaching may, so plenty of time for cubs bullpen to “stabilize” with a few signings that seem to workout for a while and a few mid season trades, by end of sept-Oct they’ll fold..
99th percentile for extension. Dodgers are salivating. He’s exactly the sort of guy they like to stick in the pitching lab.
It’s funny, but Romano’s stuff actually plays. (Sort of) His slider has decent vertical break (above league average). He has a high whiff rate.
He actually was pitching well throughout spring training and at the beginning of the season. Zero hits in his first 6 appearances.
Then Suzuki didn’t use him for an entire week, and Romano seemed to lose everything during that down time.
Suzuki’s bullpen usage so far has been mystifying, and I think he killed whatever momentum Romano had built up.
Wow. Another blown lead. Amazing. Not a surprise.
7 run inning to the White Sox. Rome is burning
Not a surprise? Wait a minute, didn’t you pick them to win their division and get to the WS?
Angels could sure use Brock Burke’s 0.68 ERA right now…
Let’s face it, Brock Burke’s 3.36 ERA from last year, would be a huge upgrade for the Angels.
Must be so frustrating for Jack K to control opposition all night long to turn it over to the bullpen that gives up a big lead minutes later. There has been many such occasions this year. Hard to watch.
Maybe he should go back to squatting before every pitch again 😆
If they would have actually gone after real MLB quality relief pitching they might be 18-12 instead of 12-18. When do we get Yates and Joyce back?
That’s a CHEEZY thing to do to ROMANO !!
Mets on a minor league deal.
Could see the White Sox or Fish taking a low risk look at him.
Surprised how much he has struggled since the Jays.