Five Non-Tendered Pitchers To Keep An Eye On This Winter
Every year, MLB’s non-tender deadline sees clubs allow some of their players who remain under team control to test the open market early, whether it be due to an increasing price tag in arbitration or a need for additional space on the club’s 40-man roster. Earlier this evening, we discussed five hitters from this year’s crop of non-tendered players who could be worth keeping an eye on this winter. While none of those players can realistically be expected to follow in the footsteps of Cody Bellinger and Kyle Schwarber, who both re-established themselves as All-Star caliber players following their respective non-tenders, it wouldn’t be so shocking to see a player from this year’s crop of non-tendered arms emerge as a notable player at some point in the future.
The best player to be non-tendered last winter was right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who served as the co-ace of the Brewers rotation alongside Corbin Burnes for years but wound up missing the entire 2024 season as he rehabbed from shoulder surgery. Kevin Gausman stands out as another notable hurler who’s been non-tendered in recent memory, and the veteran right-hander has gone on to have a fabulous career after breaking out at the age of 29. Even if no player from this crop of arms reaches the heights Gausman has, finding an impactful reliever or even a quality starter in the non-tender pile is hardly unheard of. Just this past year, both Spencer Turnbull and Tim Hill went from non-tendered in November to pitching for playoff contenders in 2024. Could anyone from this year’s group of non-tenders follow in their footsteps? Without further ado, let’s take a look at five pitchers who hit free agency following last week’s non-tender deadline and could be worth keeping an eye on throughout the coming offseason. Players are listed in alphabetical order, with their age for the 2025 season in parentheses.
Kyle Finnegan (33)
Finnegan’s non-tender came as something of a shock, as the right-hander actually made his first career All-Star appearance this year. The righty has been a consistent, stable presence at the back of the Nationals’ bullpen throughout the rebuild, pitching to a 3.56 ERA (116 ERA+) overall with a 4.24 FIP and a 23.5% strikeout rate in his 290 1/3 innings of work. Finnegan’s spent much of his time with the club in the closer role as well, and has racked up 88 career saves in 109 opportunities for a conversion rate of 81%. Finnegan’s overall performance this year was roughly in line with his career norms, as he posted a 3.68 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 63 2/3 innings of work while racking up 38 saves in 43 opportunities this year.
Those frequent save opportunities over the years have increased Finnegan’s price tag in arbitration, and he was due to make $8.6MM in his final trip through the process this winter according to projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Aside from the high price tag, one other red flag that may have given the Nationals pause regarding their closer was how he wore down throughout the year. After posting an excellent 2.45 ERA and 3.98 FIP in 40 1/3 innings prior to the All-Star break, Finnegan’s final 24 appearances down the stretch saw him surrender a 5.79 ERA with a 4.71 FIP and a strikeout rate of just 16.4%. Despite that potential sign of trouble, though, Finnegan offers late-inning experience, consistent results, and an upper-90s fastball that should attract plenty of attention this winter.
Hoby Milner (34)
Left-handed relief options are always in demand, and Milner figures to receive attention on the free agent market as a southpaw with previous success in the majors if nothing else, even after the Brewers opted to non-tender him rather than pay his projected salary of $2.7MM for the 2025 season. That’s certainly a defensible decision given Milwaukee’s tight budget and Milner’s poor results this year. In 64 2/3 innings of work for the Brewers this year, Milner surrendered an ugly 4.73 ERA that was 11% worse than league average by measure of ERA+. With a heater that fails to break 90 mph, Milner hardly garners attention for his stuff, as well.
That’s not to say he couldn’t be a valuable contributor to a club’s bullpen, however. Rough as Milner’s 2024 campaign was, the underlying numbers were actually far kinder to the southpaw: He struck out a solid 23.9% of opponents while walking just 5.2%, and virtually every advanced metric was extremely bullish on the lefty’s performance this year as he posted a 3.14 FIP, a 3.08 SIERA, and a 3.15 in both xERA and xFIP. Milner also enjoyed the highest groundball rate of his career (51.9%), and may have been victimized by a shockingly low strand rate of just 58.1%. Looking at the three years Milner spent as a fixture of the Milwaukee bullpen from 2022 to 2024 paints the picture of a steady left-handed reliever who could improve plenty of bullpens around the league: in 193 2/3 innings during that time, he posted a 3.44 ERA with a 3.14 FIP overall. That track record should garner major league offers this winter, even if his lackluster season this past year may limit his earning potential.
Cal Quantrill (30)
Quantrill lands on this list by virtue of being the best bet among all non-tender candidates to make 30 big league starts in 2025. The right-hander found himself moved out of his previous organization in advance of the non-tender deadline for the second consecutive winter last week. After being designated for assignment by the Guardians in the days leading up to the deadline last year, the Rockies swung a trade to add him to their rotation. That experiment went fairly well, as Quantrill pitched to a solid if unspectacular 4.98 ERA (93 ERA+) with a 5.32 FIP. Ugly as those numbers look on paper, given the realities of pitching in Coors Field they’re generally consistent with Quantrill’s history as a roughly league average fifth starter.
The right-hander enjoyed a breakout campaign during the 2020 season that was split between Cleveland and San Diego, where he pitched to a 2.25 ERA in 32 innings while working out of the bullpen. He was used as a swing man in Cleveland the following year, and continued to dominate as he posted a 2.89 ERA (despite a pedestrian 4.07 FIP) in 149 2/3 innings of work in 2021. From 2022 onwards, he settled in as a permanent fixture of the rotation and has been a consistently average back-of-the-rotation arm with a 4.35 ERA (96 ERA+) and 4.68 FIP in 80 starts. Averaging more than 26 starts per year with a roughly league average ERA should be enough to earn Quantrill a look from a rotation-needy team this year, though it’s also possible a team could have interest in seeing if he can post stronger numbers out of the bullpen like he did earlier in his career.
Jordan Romano (32)
Romano was perhaps the non-tendered that garnered the most attention in the aftermath of last week’s non-tender deadline. A two-time All-Star, Romano has been the Blue Jays’ closer throughout the majority of their recent competitive window. From 2020 to 2023, the right-hander spun an incredible 2.29 ERA in 200 2/3 innings of work with a 30.8% strikeout rate and a 3.13 FIP. Among relievers with at least 160 innings of work during that time, Romano ranked third by ERA behind only Devin Williams and Emmanuel Clase. Unfortunately, the wheels came off completely for the righty in 2024 as he was shelled for 10 runs in 13 2/3 innings before undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery that wound up ending his season.
Terrible as Romano’s 2024 campaign was, it’s hard to imagine him not generating significant interest this winter. The right-hander was projected for a $7.75MM salary in his final trip through arbitration this winter, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him land a similar deal in free agency if multiple clubs see him as a potential buy-low solution in the ninth inning given his strong numbers and 105 career saves in 113 chances (89% conversation rate). Romano’s market naturally still figures to be hampered at least to some extent by not just his struggles in 2024 but also questions surrounding his health. While he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training and have a normal offseason following his surgery this summer, some level of trepidation from clubs is to be expected after any elbow procedure.
Patrick Sandoval (28)
Sandoval stands as both the youngest player on this list and the one most likely to find success as a mid-rotation starter or better in the big leagues at some point in the future. The left-hander was traded from the Astros to the Angels as the return for catcher Martin Maldonado back in 2018, and the southpaw was in the big leagues the following year. While it took some time for Sandoval to get settled into the majors, he found success in a half season of work out of the rotation in 2021 and managed to build upon that with a breakout season the following year. In 2022, Sandoval pitched to an excellent 2.91 ERA with a 3.09 FIP in 148 2/3 innings of work. He struck out 23.7% of opponents and combined that with an excellent 47.4% grounder rate.
Unfortunately, Sandoval’s performance has slipped since then. 2023 was a step backwards for the lefty, as he posted a solid but relatively pedestrian 4.11 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.18 FIP in 144 2/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate dropped to just 19.3% that year, while his walk rate skyrocketed to 11.3%. Things took a turn for the worse this year, as he was shelled to the tune of a 5.08 ERA across 16 starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery back in June. That will leave him out of action until at least the second half of 2025, and that layoff combined with Sandoval’s recent lackluster performance made the Halos’ decision to part ways with him somewhat unsurprising. Even so, with Sandoval not scheduled to hit free agency until after the 2026 season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a club snap the lefty up on a two-year deal and be glad he did if he can revert to something closer to his 2022 form once he’s back on the mound.
AL East Notes: Romano, Loaisiga, Hays, Rays
The Blue Jays didn’t make Jordan Romano a contract offer before the closer was non-tendered this week, the Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm reports. This apparent lack of interest in retaining Romano at any price (let alone his projected $7.75MM arbitration salary) probably closes the door on any chance of a reunion between Romano and the Jays, so the two-time All-Star will almost surely be pitching elsewhere in 2025. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise that Romano was non-tendered, given his high price tag and the uncertainty over his health situation after his injury-riddled 2024 campaign.
Romano didn’t pitch after May 29 and he underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in July. As Chisholm notes, Romano told the Toronto Star’s Mike Wilner earlier in November that he was soon going to start throwing off a mound, and “that he was feeling great” in the recovery from his surgery. While more specifics on Romano’s health are sure to emerge over the offseason, it is clear that the Jays didn’t share the reliever’s confidence in his elbow. Finding a new closer is now the latest item on Toronto’s lengthy winter to-do list, and the Jays already had a lot of work to do in fixing a bullpen that was one of baseball’s worst last season.
More from around the AL East….
- The Yankees are open to a reunion with Jonathan Loaisiga, though Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post reports that the Bombers are one of 14 teams that have shown interest in the reliever. Loaisiga has pitched only 21 2/3 big league innings over the last two seasons, as elbow problems (including a bone spur removal surgery) limited him to 17 2/3 frames in 2023, and he tossed only four innings before a UCL surgery brought his 2024 season to a quick end. Loaisiga’s procedure wasn’t a Tommy John procedure, and he was throwing from 90-foot distances for scouts earlier this week, with the Yankees among the clubs with an evaluator on hand. All 163 of Loaisiga’s MLB games have come in a Yankees uniform, so the team has plenty of familiarity with the right-hander’s ability when healthy, and also the inside scoop on his health status. Signing Loaisiga wouldn’t be expensive for the Yankees or any team that might offer him a contract this winter, making him an interesting buy-low candidate on the bullpen market.
- Austin Hays was traded from the Orioles to the Phillies prior to the trade deadline, but now that Hays is a free agent after being non-tendered, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com thinks there’s a chance Hays could return to Baltimore. Hays had an injury-plagued 2024 season that included a severe kidney infection that emerged during his time in Philadelphia, and he wound up with a below-average 98 wRC+ from a .255/.303/.396 slash line in 255 total plate appearances. The outfielder was significantly better both offensively and defensively during the 2021-23 seasons when healthy, and Baltimore has a clear need for right-handed hitting outfielders (and right-handed hitting in general).
- It remains to be seen if the Rays will ever again play at Tropicana Field, but for at least the 2025 season, the club will play at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The move will impact the Rays’ roster construction plans, as some adjustment is naturally necessary simply by dint of the fact that the Rays will now be playing outdoors during the Florida summer rather than within the confines of a domed stadium. With multiple rainouts now a likelihood, president of baseball operations Erik Neander is looking to add multi-inning pitching depth at both the Major and minor league levels. As Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, “it’s…making sure that we can protect our arms and maneuver the roster in a way where if a game gets disrupted and delayed after two innings and you lose a starter, and then you’ve got to cover four or five [innings] as it comes back before you can go to the bullpen, that you have the ability to maneuver day to day as needed, to cover that and do it in a way that’s responsible for the well-being of the group.” More pitching will also be needed since the Stein is expected to be a much more hitter-friendly environment than the Trop, though the Rays’ own hitters can also benefit from the situation.
American League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24
The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.
Onto the transactions…
- The Angels announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Patrick Sandoval, infielder Eric Wagaman, as well as outfielders Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio. You can read more about those moves here.
- The Astros tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
- The Athletics announced that they did not tender a contract to right-hander Dany Jiménez, who was projected for a $1MM salary. He posted a 4.91 in 25 appearances for the A’s in 2024. He struck out 21.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.2% clip.
- The Blue Jays are planning to non-tender righty Dillon Tate, per Ben Nicholson Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (X link). Tate was just claimed off waivers at the start of September and had a projected salary of $1.9MM. He’s a former fourth overall pick with some good numbers in his career but he missed most of 2023 due to injury and then posted a 4.66 ERA in 2024. The Jays are also non-tendering righty Jordan Romano, which you can read more about here.
- The Guardians have non-tendered outfielder George Valera and right-hander Connor Gillispie, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (X link). Both players were designated for assignment earlier this week.
- The Mariners are going to non-tender outfielder Sam Haggerty, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He was limited to just eight games in 2024 due to a torn achilles. He was only projected for a salary of $900K but the M’s have decided to move on. They also non-tendered infielder Josh Rojas and righties Austin Voth and JT Chargois, moves that are covered with more depth here.
- The Orioles plan to non-tender right-hander Jacob Webb, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). Webb was projected for a salary of $1.7MM next year. The righty tossed 56 2/3 innings for the O’s in 2024 with a 3.02 ERA and 24.5% strikeout rate, but an 11.4% walk rate.
- The Rays announced they have non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson as well as left-handers Tyler Alexander, Colin Poche and Richard Lovelady. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the news (X link) prior to the official announcement. Carlson once seemed like a building block in St. Louis but his offense has declined for three straight years now and he was projected for a $2.7MM salary. Alexander was projected for $2.8MM and had a 5.10 ERA this year. Poche had a solid 3.86 ERA but was projected for $3.4MM. Lovelady was designated for assignment a few days ago.
- The Rangers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
- The Red Sox announced that right-handers Bryan Mata and Isaiah Campbell were both non-tendered. Those two had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
- The Royals tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
- The Tigers announced that they have non-tendered infielder Eddys Leonard as well as right-handers Ricky Vanasco, Brendan White and Wilmer Flores. Three of those four were designated for assignment earlier this week. Flores, the lone exception, is the younger brother of the same-named Wilmer Flores of the Giants. The younger Flores was once a notable pitching prospect but was injured for most of 2024.
- The Twins tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
- The Yankees have non-tendered infielder Jon Berti, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). He was projected for a salary of $3.8MM. He was injured for much of the year and only got into 25 games. The Yankees also announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Tim Mayza, who was projected for a $4MM salary but had a 6.33 ERA in 2024.
- The White Sox will non-tender first baseman/outfielder Gavin Sheets, which MLBTR covered earlier today. The Sox later announced Sheets and also that they non-tendered right-hander Enyel De Los Santos as well. De Los Santos was projected for a salary of $1.7MM but posted a 5.20 ERA this year.
Blue Jays Non-Tender Jordan Romano
The Blue Jays non-tendered closer Jordan Romano, tweets Jeff Passan of ESPN. The two-time All-Star had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $7.75MM salary in his final season of arbitration. He goes directly into free agency without landing on waivers.
That lofty projection made Romano one of the more obvious high-profile candidates to be let go. His 2024 season was wrecked by injury. The 31-year-old righty pitched in 15 games, allowing 10 runs over 13 2/3 innings. In early July, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to address an impingement in his throwing elbow. That ultimately proved to be a season ender. While the Jays initially expressed hope that Romano could return in September, they fell out of the playoff race and had little reason to rush him back to action.
The Jays weren’t comfortable risking a near-$8MM salary on a rebound. Romano nevertheless becomes one of the most intriguing buy-low targets for teams looking for bullpen help. He was an elite back-end weapon between 2021-23. Romano has recorded 103 saves over the past four seasons, including consecutive 36-save performances in 2022 and ’23.
He topped 55 innings in each of the three seasons preceding this year and turned in a sub-3.00 ERA showing in each year. From 2021-23, Romano posted a 2.37 earned run average through 186 innings. He struck out more than 30% of opposing hitters against a tolerable 9.2% walk rate.
Toronto already needed to address the bullpen, which ranked 29th in the majors with a 4.82 ERA. Only the Rockies had a more troublesome relief group. Moving on from Romano, while understandable, simply adds to that urgency. The Jays also non-tendered Dillon Tate, opening a second bullpen spot. Erik Swanson and Chad Green project as the top in-house options for leverage work. GM Ross Atkins and his staff will certainly look for at least one, and quite likely multiple, back-end arms during the coming weeks.
Blue Jays Shut Down Jordan Romano For Remainder Of 2024 Season
Jordan Romano‘s 2024 season is officially over, as Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) Friday on that Romano won’t be activated from the 60-day injured list before the regular season is out. The closer underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in early July that came with a post-procedure shutdown of period of at least six weeks. That initial timeline has now stretched into September, and while Romano has resumed throwing, “it just didn’t work out with the number of games we have left and what he is going to have to check off the list in order to get back,” Schneider said.
The news closes the book on an altogether disastrous season for the 31-year-old, who posted a 6.59 ERA over only 13 2/3 innings of Major League action. Romano began the year on the 15-day IL due to some elbow inflammation that developed in Spring Training, and simply wasn’t very effective once he made his return to the mound in mid-April. His last appearance of the season came on May 29, as he returned to the 15-day IL shortly thereafter and there was some concern that Romano had a more serious UCL-related injury before it was decided that the arthroscopic surgery was all that was required.
Schneider said that Romano will keep throwing and should be set for a normal offseason, so that at least represents some good news on the longer-term health front. However, it naturally leaves Romano as one of the many question marks the Jays face for 2025 as they figure out how to rebound from a very disappointing campaign. The Blue Jays will have to overhaul a bullpen that was one of the worst in baseball, and figuring out how to approach this overhaul is trickier since the club doesn’t exactly know what it is getting from its former closer.
Davidi suggests that the Blue Jays could even consider non-tendering Romano if the team is just too concerned about his health. This would seem like a pretty aggressive move considering how well Romano pitched from 2020-23, and the right-hander isn’t overly expensive on paper — Romano is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility, and his lack of production in 2024 means that he’ll receive a pretty minimal raise over his current $7.75MM salary. That said, the roughly $8MM Romano figures to land in 2025 salary could be put to better use on relievers who have fewer injury concerns hanging over them heading into another season. Pursuing a trade (albeit a sell-low type of trade) or a non-tender might also be viable if Toronto doesn’t plan to retain Romano once he becomes eligible for free agency.
Cubs Acquire Nate Pearson
The Cubs have acquired right-hander Nate Pearson in a trade with the Blue Jays, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan (X link). Toronto will receive minor league outfielder Yohendrick Pinango and minor league infielder Josh Rivera in return. The Jays also placed closer Jordan Romano on the 60-day injured list.
Pearson was selected 28th overall in the 2017 draft, just one pick after the Cubs took left-hander Brendon Little (who currently pitches for the Jays). A broken arm and an oblique injury limited him to just 1 2/3 innings in 2018, but he re-emerged with a vengeance in 2019, rocketing up the minor league ladder to Triple-A Buffalo by season’s end and establishing himself as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects. MLB Pipeline and Baseball America both ranked him within the overall top 10 of their preseason prospect rankings in advance of the 2020 season, and that year saw Pearson make his MLB debut in the form of five appearances for the Jays during the pandemic-shortened campaign.
Since pitching 101 2/3 innings in the minors in 2019, Pearson has barely topped that total in terms of big league experience, with 115 2/3 frames on his resume in the Show. Pearson has posted a 5.21 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 11.6% walk rate in the majors, with a 15.1% homer rate contributing to that unimpressive ERA.
All but five of Pearson’s 93 big league appearances have come as a reliever, as Toronto shifted Pearson to the bullpen in an effort to keep him healthy after a number of injury setbacks. From 2020-22, Pearson had to deal with such varied issues as a flexor strain, a lat strain, mono, groin problems, and a hernia surgery, which limited his time on the mound and prevented him from any MLB action whatsoever in 2022.
Pearson has been healthy over the last two years, but his performance has been inconsistent as best, dashing the Blue Jays’ hopes that Pearson could at least become a high-leverage relief weapon. He is one of the league’s harder throwers with a fastball that averages 97.6mph, but batters have teed off that heater to the tune of a .342 average this season. Pearson’s slider has been a much more effective offering, but opposing hitters have learned to lay off the slider and chase the fastball, to great success.
Pearson recently expressed an interest in returning to a starting role, which would’ve seemingly been something the Jays would’ve been open to given their rotation and the organization’s overall uncertain future direction in the midst of an underwhelming season. Today’s trade, however, closes the door on Pearson’s Blue Jays tenure entirely, and it perhaps hints at a change in Toronto’s plans for the trade deadline. The Jays had reportedly been only planning to move rental or shorter-term players, while keeping a lot of their core in place for another run at contention in 2025.
Since Pearson is only in his first year of arbitration eligibility and is controlled through the 2026 campaign, the deal could signal the Jays’ willingness to expand their list of trade candidates, perhaps if the club is considering that some level of a rebuild is in order. Then again, it could be that the Blue Jays were open to moving Pearson simply because they no longer consider him any kind of core piece — a letdown for the franchise, given that Pearson seemed like a future cornerstone not long ago.
The Cubs are struggling through a disappointing year of their own, with a 49-56 record in comparison to Toronto’s 47-56 mark. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said earlier this week that the club is already looking ahead to 2025 in terms of potential deadline pickups, and to that end Pearson represents an interesting change-of-scenery candidate. The righty turns 28 next month, so there’s still lots of time for a second act to his career as either a reliever or starter. Between Pearson’s prospect pedigree and two years of remaining arb control, there’s some major buy-low upside for the Cubs if the right-hander is able to find his form in Wrigleyville. Peter Gammons (via X) reports that the Red Sox were also interested in Pearson, though it stands to reason that the Jays might’ve preferred to move the righty outside the AL East.
Baseball America ranks Pinango 17th among Cubs prospects, while MLB Pipeline has him 29th. The outfielder was an international signing in 2018 and he has spent the majority of his career in high-A ball, only reaching Double-A for the first time this season and hitting .223/.316/.345 with four homers in 225 PA for Double-A Tennessee. BA’s scouting report notes that the 22-year-old’s attempts to focus on adding power in 2022-23 led to diminished numbers overall, but he has shown a better approach in 2024 and posted improved hard-contact numbers and a better chase rate. Defensively, Pinango is an average defender probably best suited to left field or even first base over the long term, and the latter position would naturally put more pressure on him to deliver more at the plate.
Rivera is 23rd on Pipeline’s list but wasn’t included in Baseball America’s Cubs top 30, perhaps owing to his .169/.277/.260 slash line over 253 PA at Double-A Tennessee this season. Like Pinango, Rivera is also playing Double-A ball for the first time, and it has been a pretty quick progression since Rivera was only drafted last year, in the third round. The University of Florida product has played mostly shortstop as a pro with some second base and third base time, and Pipeline projects him as “an offensive-minded utilityman” given his raw skills at the plate and his ability to competently play multiple positions, even if he isn’t a standout in the field.
Rogers and Passan (X link) were the first to report that Pearson was heading to Chicago. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported (via X) Pinango’s inclusion in the deal, while Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Arden Zwelling (X link) reported Rivera’s inclusion.
Jordan Romano Shut Down For Six Weeks Following Arthroscopic Elbow Surgery
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.
Jordan Romano To Receive Evaluation After Continued Elbow Discomfort
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano is set to visit Dr. Keith Meister on July 2, manager John Schneider told reporters (including the Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath and Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi). Romano has been on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation for almost a month, and his throwing work has now been halted for a second time due to continued soreness. Some soreness last week led to a pause for a few days, but Romano has now been shut down from throwing entirely after a throwing session yesterday.
While Schneider noted that no structural damage has been found in other examinations of Romano’s elbow to date, it is naturally a little ominous to hear that any pitcher is visiting Dr. Meister. It was just earlier this month that Meister performed a UCL surgery on another prominent Blue Jays pitcher in Alek Manoah, and a similar procedure represents the worst-case scenario for Romano if his recurring elbow problem is due to more than just inflammation. Romano would miss at least the next year of action recovering from an internal brace procedure (one of Meister’s specialties) or the standard Tommy John surgery would likely keep him out of action until Opening Day 2026.
Today’s news is the latest twist in what is increasingly looking like it might be a lost season for Romano, who has a 6.59 ERA over 13 2/3 innings and 15 appearances. These underwhelming numbers came in between both his current IL stint and another season-opening IL stint also due to elbow inflammation, as Romano didn’t pitch in his first game until April 16.
Romano has been Toronto’s closer for the last three seasons, posting a sterling 2.37 ERA over 186 innings while recording 95 saves in 106 chances. While Romano could be homer-prone and his 9.2% walk rate was nothing special, his 30.3% strikeout rate was powered by a strong one-two punch of a fastball/slider combination, helping him receive All-Star nods in both 2022 and 2023.
More will be known after Romano’s consultation on Tuesday, but an extended absence could potentially bring his tenure with the Jays to an end. Romano is under arbitration control through the 2025 season, though if his 2025 campaign is now in jeopardy altogether, the Blue Jays could consider not even tendering him a contract this winter. Perhaps more likely, the Jays might explore a two-year extension with Romano, locking him up for both 2025 and what would hopefully be a fully healthy 2026 season.
Even if the elbow problem proves to be relatively minor, it almost surely means that Romano will still be a Blue Jays beyond the July 30 deadline, as it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be back on a big league mound in a month’s time. A healthy Romano might have been a prime deadline trade chip for a Jays team that looking to be falling out of contention, though obviously having a healthy and effective Romano in 2024 could’ve greatly altered Toronto’s fortunes. With Romano, Yimi Garcia, Erik Swanson, and Tim Mayza all waylaid by injuries and/or ineffectiveness, the Jays’ relief corps has a 4.78 ERA, ranking third-worst in all of baseball.
Blue Jays’ GM Ross Atkins Talks Deadline Approach
Even after last night’s 9-2 drubbing of the Yankees, the Blue Jays sit six games below .500. They’re at the bottom of the AL East with a 37-43 record and have three teams between them and the Royals — the current holder of the American League’s final playoff spot.
It’s certainly not where the Jays expected to find themselves at the season’s halfway point. Toronto had won between 89 and 92 games in each of the past three seasons and has gotten to the postseason in three of the last four years. They should be squarely in their competitive window.
That sets the Jays up as one of the more interesting pivot teams over the next month. They’re not eager to sell, but they’re running low on time to play their way back into the playoff mix. Toronto is 6.5 back in the Wild Card race. Any hope they had of winning the division coming into this year has long since disappeared.
GM Ross Atkins acknowledged the team’s precarious position when he spoke with the Toronto beat before Thursday’s win. “We’ve obviously put ourselves into a tough spot over the last seven days,” Atkins said (link via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). “Ten days ago, we were feeling like there was positive momentum, and that has gone away.”
Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote earlier this week that the Jays weren’t yet willing to make key players available in trade. Atkins suggested similarly in his comments on Thursday, saying the front office’s “focus is on the 2024 team.” While the GM acknowledged that any decision also involves consideration of the future, he pointed to the organization’s investment in both payroll and prospect capital in this roster. “We’ll continue to do that until it doesn’t make sense to do so any more,” he added.
That naturally raises the question of when the front office could decide they have no choice but to turn their focus toward the future. That’ll largely depend on how things play out in the next four to five weeks — both in Toronto and around the rest of the American League. “The coming days are exceptionally important to us, and understanding the market is also exceptionally important to us in either way,” Atkins said (via Matheson). “We’re focused on winning. We’re focused on building the best possible team we can this year and supporting them the best we can. If we get to a point where we need to adjust, we’ll be prepared to do so.”
Toronto isn’t unique in that regard. There are only five or six (depending on one feels about the Tigers) teams who look like clear-cut sellers at this point. Yet there aren’t many more who can feel secure about their chances of getting to the postseason. Upwards of half the teams in the league could decide their deadline direction based on how they perform in July. Various clubs could also try to straddle the line by offloading some veterans while looking for immediate help in other areas of the roster.
The Jays have a more established roster than most of those fringe teams. Toronto has potentially impactful trade candidates with varying levels of club control. Neither Danny Jansen nor Yusei Kikuchi has played well in recent weeks, yet they’d both started the season quite well. Jansen is the top impending free agent catcher, while Kikuchi would be one of the more talented rental starting pitchers on the market if the Jays made him available.
Yimi García is pitching well and would be a straightforward target for teams seeking veteran bullpen help if he’s healthy by the deadline. (He went on the injured list with elbow neuritis two weeks ago.) Justin Turner and Kevin Kiermaier are having disappointing seasons. While the Jays would probably have to kick in cash to facilitate trades of either player, they could get calls based on their pre-2024 track records.
Things would become more interesting if the Jays seriously considered moving key players who are under control beyond this season. That would signify a bigger reset than merely trading rentals. There’s an argument for doing so if the Jays can’t claw back into contention over the next few weeks. Toronto has a handful of players who are in or at the back end of their primes. They’ve got dwindling control windows on franchise faces Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, each of whom are slated for free agency after the 2025 campaign. Bichette will make $16.5MM next season, while Guerrero is going to be due a noteworthy raise on this year’s $19.9MM salary.
Atkins bluntly shot down the notion of trading either star hitter earlier this month. That presumably won’t stop teams from calling to gauge whether the Jays are willing to reconsider. Bichette himself told Hazel Mae (X link) that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Jays moved him, though that’d presumably change if the team plays its way back into contention.
Guerrero is amidst arguably the second-best offensive season of his career. He’s hitting .289/.370/.447 across 351 plate appearances. While he hasn’t hit for the same level of power he did in 2021-22, Guerrero has the second-highest average and on-base mark of his career. Bichette hasn’t performed to his usual standard, running a personal-worst .232/.282/.333 slash line over 287 trips. While that’d arguably make this summer an inopportune time to move him, Bichette would surely still draw ample attention if the Jays put him on the market. There aren’t many everyday shortstops who seem likely to be available.
Beyond that duo, the Jays have a handful of controllable players who could generate calls, particularly on the pitching side. Jordan Romano has spent the past month on the injured list with elbow inflammation. He’s a two-time All-Star closer who is under arbitration control through next season, though. Romano recently resumed throwing from 120 feet on flat ground (via the MLB.com injury tracker). Chris Bassitt is making $22MM this season and next. He turned in a 3.60 ERA over 33 starts a year ago and has worked to a 3.45 mark with decent strikeout and walk numbers over 91 1/3 innings. Trading Kevin Gausman, who is under contract through 2026, still seems unlikely unless the front office kicks off a more significant reboot.
If the Jays perform the way they’re hoping over the next month, adding to the bullpen and deepening the lineup would be the likely priorities. The Romano and García injuries — paired with Erik Swanson’s struggles — have contributed to the Jays running out one of the least consistent relief groups in the majors. The bottom half of the lineup hasn’t performed up to expectations either. That’s largely due to underperformance from the likes of Bichette, Turner, Kiermaier and George Springer. The Jays also entered the season with questions at second and third base. They’ve plugged rookie Spencer Horwitz into regular action at the keystone while free agent signee Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who has somewhat quietly impressed with a .283/.333/.402 showing) has gotten the bulk of the third base reps.
AL East Notes: Duran, Romano, Orioles, Abreu
The Red Sox haven’t yet discussed a contract extension with Jarren Duran, the outfielder told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo earlier this week, though Duran doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of talks. “I’m just here to play baseball. If they come talk to me, then they come talk to me, but I’m just enjoying playing baseball with this team,” Duran said. The Sox aren’t exactly on a ticking clock, as Duran doesn’t reach arbitration eligibility until this coming winter, though he will likely qualify for Super Two status and thus earn a fourth arbitration year.
That extra arb year could make things very lucrative for Duran, given how has continued to up his game in 2024. He has hit .280/.347/.478 over 350 plate appearances this season, just about matching the numbers he posted over 362 PA in 2023. When combined with his excellent baserunning and solid defense in left and center field, Duran has generated 3.1 fWAR, a number topped by only eight players this season.
Considering how Duran struggled in his first two big league seasons, it isn’t surprising that the Red Sox wanted a little more data beyond just 2023 to make sure that Duran’s breakout was for real. Signing Duran to an extension will be a lot more expensive now than it would’ve been last winter, yet it still might allow the Red Sox to gain some certainty over Duran’s escalating arb salaries, and add another year of control or two over a player they might now view as a longer-term building block. That said, Duran’s age could also be a factor, as he turns 28 in September, and so Boston already has him arb-controlled through his age-31 season.
More from around the AL East…
- Jordan Romano‘s throwing progression has been paused due to some elbow soreness, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told MLB.com’s Henry Palattella (X link) and other media. Romano was supposed to pitch off a mound today for the first time since being placed on the 15-day IL due to right elbow inflammation back on June 1, but now that plan has been temporarily set aside. Elbow discomfort has been an issue for Romano for all season, resulting in a pair of IL trips and a rough 6.59 ERA over 13 2/3 innings in between those absences. Toronto’s bullpen has struggled for much of the season, and is currently without its projected top three relievers. Romano and Yimi Garcia are injured, and Erik Swanson is currently in Triple-A trying to get on track after posting a 9.22 ERA in his first 13 2/3 innings of 2024.
- Season-ending injuries to John Means, Tyler Wells, and now Kyle Bradish have only underlined the Orioles‘ need for starting pitching, and Baltimore is widely expected to pursue rotation help at the deadline. However, sources tell The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Katie Woo, and Ken Rosenthal that GM Mike Elias hasn’t felt the need to become any more aggressive in the wake of Bradish’s Tommy John surgery, and that the O’s might still wait until closer to the actual deadline to make any pitching moves. The Orioles’ 49-26 record gives them plenty of breathing room to evaluate their needs, though Baltimore is also in a tight race with the Yankees for the AL East crown.
- Ending the notes post with another Red Sox item, Boston reinstated Wilyer Abreu from the 10-day injured list today, and optioned Bobby Dalbec to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Abreu has missed just shy of three weeks with a sprained ankle, interrupting the outfielder’s quietly outstanding play since making his MLB debut last season. Abreu had a .862 OPS over 85 PA in 2023, and with his rookie status still intact, has now gained some Rookie of the Year buzz with his .272/.344/.485 slash line over 189 PA this season.