Brewers Reinstate Jake Cousins From COVID-IL, Designate Sal Romano
The Brewers announced that right-hander Jake Cousins has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injury list. To create roster room, right-hander Sal Romano has been designated for assignment.
Cousins returns after the mandatory 10-day quarantine period following a positive coronavirus test. The Brewers still have six more players on their COVID list, but between Cousins, Hunter Strickland, and Christian Yelich all returning in recent days, the club is slowly starting to make its way back from this outbreak.
The positive COVID-19 result was unwelcome interruption to what has been an eye-opener of rookie season for the 27-year-old Cousins, who has yet to allow a run over 14 1/3 innings out of Milwaukee’s bullpen. The hard-throwing righty has an impressive 37.7% strikeout rate and an even 50% grounder rate, as opposing batters have managed only an .091 batting average in 53 plate appearances. After a few nondescript seasons in the Nationals’ farm system, Cousins has seen his strikeout rates spike since joining the Brewers in 2019.
Romano was claimed off waivers from the Yankees just last week, as the Brew Crew looked for some fresh arms in the midst of their coronavirus outbreak. After tossing one inning in one game for Milwaukee, Romano has now banked appearances with three different clubs in 2021 — the right-hander has a combined 5.63 ERA over 24 innings with the Brewers, Yankees, and Reds, with 20 2/3 of those innings coming in Cincinnati.
Brewers Claim Sal Romano Off Waivers From Yankees
The Brewers announced they’ve claimed right-hander Sal Romano off waivers from the Yankees. He’ll add some depth to a bullpen that has been hit hard by the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Milwaukee clubhouse in recent days.
Milwaukee will be Romano’s third team of the year. He opened the season in Cincinnati but was cut loose after a poor first month. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees not long after and pitched his way back to the big leagues in late July. His stint in the Bronx proved rather brief, though, as he wound up again designated for assignment after a pair of appearances.
Between the Reds and Yankees, Romano has tossed 23 innings with a 4.70 ERA. He has punched out only 14.9% of batters faced against an average 8.9% walk rate. Romano has had better results with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, working 23 1/3 frames of 3.47 ERA ball. He is out of minor league option years, so the Brew Crew need to keep him on the big league roster or wind up placing him on waivers themselves.
Yankees Designate Sal Romano For Assignment
The Yankees announced that right-hander Sal Romano has been designated for assignment. The move creates a roster spot for left-hander Andrew Heaney, acquired yesterday in a trade with the Angels.
Signed to a minor league deal in May, Romano had his contract selected last week and he tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings over two appearances in the pinstripes. At the Triple-A level, Romano has a 3.47 ERA and a below-average 16% strikeout rate over 23 1/3 relief innings for the Yankees’ top affiliate.
This is the third time Romano has hit DFA limbo in 2021, as the Reds outrighted him off their 40-man roster back in February and then designated him again in May. Romano chose to become a free agent rather than accept another outright assignment, and he again has that option in the wake of this latest roster move, unless another team claims him off waivers during the DFA period.
A veteran of five Major League seasons, Romano has a 5.10 ERA over 273 1/3 career innings with the Reds and Yankees. Romano drew some attention as a potential future starter during his time in Cincinnati’s farm system, though that promise has yet to translate into any sustained success at the big league level.
Yankees Designate Asher Wojciechowski For Assignment, Select Sal Romano
The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Sal Romano from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and cleared a spot on the active and 40-man rosters by designating right-hander Asher Wojciechowski for assignment.
Wojciechowski, 32, was selected to the roster just yesterday and started last night’s game for the Yanks, holding the Phillies to a pair of runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four innings. That’ll prove to be little more than a spot start for the well-traveled Wojciechowski, who must now be traded, released or placed on outright waivers within the next week.
The Yankees were Wojciechowski’s fourth big league club in seven years. He spent the 2019-20 campaigns with the Orioles and got out to a solid start in 2019 before struggling mightily during last year’s shortened schedule. Last night’s outing took Wojciechowski past the 200-inning mark in his MLB career, and he’s worked to a 5.93 ERA with a 21.5 percent strikeout rate and a 7.9 percent walk rate in that time. Home runs have been a problem for the former No. 41 overall pick, but he’s continued to find work as a depth option for situations much like this one. Wojciechowski owns a career 4.29 ERA in 647 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball.
In Romano, the Yankees are turning to another former Reds right-hander. The 27-year-old New York native was once considered one of the more promising arms in the Reds’ minor league ranks, but he’s struggled in several opportunities after a solid rookie showing back in 2017. Romano worked to a 4.45 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 87 innings as a rookie, but he’s been worked over for a 5.48 ERA/5.13 FIP in 184 innings since.
To his credit, Romano has consistently fared well in Triple-A — including in a relatively short look with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate in 2021. He’s spent parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level and logged a combined 3.42 ERA in 142 frames. Romano’s 20.3 percent strikeout rate there is below average, but he’s also notched a solid 7.8 percent walk rate and a strong 49.8 percent ground-ball rate in that time.
Yankees Sign Sal Romano To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have signed right-hander Sal Romano to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, per an announcement from the RailRiders (Twitter link). He became a free agent earlier this week after being outrighted by the Reds.
Romano had pitched in fourteen games for Cincinnati this year, his most extensive MLB work since 2018. Over 20 2/3 relief innings, Romano pitched to a 5.23 ERA with a poor 13.2% strikeout rate and an average 9.9% walk percentage. The 27-year-old has never missed many bats, and he’s bottomed out in that regard this year; Romano’s 5.1% swinging strike rate is tied for 240th among 244 relievers with at least ten innings pitched. He also didn’t come out of the gates with his typical velocity; Romano has averaged 93.3 MPH on his sinker this season, down about two ticks from his previous levels.
Tough start aside, there’s little harm for the Yankees in bringing Romano in as a non-roster depth option. He has a solid 3.94 ERA in 118 2/3 career innings at Triple-A, where he’s struck out a more impressive 21.1% of opposing hitters. The Yankee bullpen has been among the league’s best, but New York remains without Zack Britton and Darren O’Day due to injury.
Reds Moves: Feliz, Romano
The Reds have added right-handed reliever Michael Feliz to their roster, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. They also optioned righty Art Warren to Triple-A Louisville. Meanwhile, righty Sal Romano has cleared waivers and elected free agency.
The 27-year-old Feliz became a Red on Friday when they claimed him off waivers from the division-rival Pirates. Feliz began the season well with 7 2/3 innings of three-run (two earned) ball with eight strikeouts against one walk, though he averaged a personal-worst 93.5 mph on his fastball along the way. Overall, Feliz has recorded a 5.07 ERA (with a far better 3.31 SIERA) in 234 1/3 major league innings.
Romano, whom the Reds designated for assignment to make room for Feliz, will now look for his second big league organization. He joined the Reds as a 23rd-round pick in 2011 and has since tossed 271 innings and amassed 83 appearances (41 starts) in the majors. The 27-year-old has logged a 5.15 ERA/4.82 SIERA in the bigs.
Reds Claim Michael Feliz, Designate Sal Romano For Assignment
The Reds have claimed right-handed reliever Michael Feliz off waivers from the Pirates, per a club announcement. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Cincinnati designated righty Sal Romano for assignment.
Feliz, 27, was one of four players the Pirates acquired in the 2017 trade that sent Gerrit Cole to Houston. He came to the Bucs with a heater that averaged better than 96 mph and a 33.8 percent strikeout rate compiled between the 2016-17 seasons. Those numbers have all taken a step back since the trade.
Feliz posted a 3.99 ERA for the Pirates through 56 1/3 innings in 2019 — his best season in the big leagues to date. However, he was hampered by shoulder and forearm issues during his time in Pittsburgh, and his fastball was averaging a career-low 94.1 mph through 7 2/3 innings in 2021. He still posted an above-average 27.7 percent strikeout rate in Pittsburgh, but his walk rate rose a bit (to 10.6 percent) and Feliz was also quite homer-prone, serving up 18 long balls in 113 1/3 frames.
Overall, Feliz has pitched 234 1/3 innings in the Majors and has only a 5.07 ERA to show for it. Fielding-independent marks are more bullish on the righty (4.01 FIP, 3.31 SIERA), so the Reds will hope that a change of scenery will help him get on track and tap into the potential that once made him one of the Astros’ most promising farmhands. Feliz is out of minor league options, so he’ll immediately join the Reds’ bullpen and try to sort things out at the MLB level.
The 27-year-old Romano showed some promise as a rookie back in 2017, when he logged a 4.45 ERA through 16 starts (87 innings). He’s struggled through every big league opportunity he’s had since that time, working to a collective 5.48 ERA through 184 frames with a well below-average strikeout rate (16.3 percent) and roughly average marks in terms of grounder and walk rates (44.4 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively).
Like Feliz, Romano is out of options, meaning any club that claims him or acquires him in a trade would have to carry him on the big league roster. The Reds will have a week to see if there’s a team interested in acquiring him or to try to pass him through outright waivers.
Reds Place Sonny Gray On Injured List
The Reds have placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 10-day injured list with a right mid-back strain, the team announced. Sal Romano has been selected to the roster in his stead. The IL placement is retroactive to Friday.
Gray has continued to shine in his second season in Cincinnati. Through 45.2 innings in nine starts, the right-hander has put up a 3.94 ERA/2.93 FIP with a career-best 30.6% strikeout rate. His 5.8 fWAR since the start of 2019 ranks thirteenth league-wide, a turnaround from a pair of down seasons with the Yankees. The Reds didn’t announce a timetable for his return, but there’s obviously not much time remaining for Gray to make it back in 2020. With just fifteen days left in the season, it’s possible this brings his campaign to an end. It’s certainly another blow to the 20-26 Reds’ faint hopes of mounting a playoff run.
The Reds waived the hard-throwing Romano over the winter, and he’ll now be making his first appearance on the MLB roster this season. Originally a starting pitcher, Romano moved to the Cincinnati bullpen full-time in 2019, where he put up a 7.71 ERA in 16.1 innings.
Reds Outright Sal Romano
February 11: Romano cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville, per the Reds.
February 5: The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Sal Romano for assignment. His removal from the 40-man roster opens a spot for righty Pedro Strop, whose previously reported one-year deal in Cincinnati is now official.
Romano, 26, has shown some promise with the Reds in the upper minors and turned in a solid, albeit unspectacular debut effort back in 2017 when he tossed 87 innings of 4.45 ERA ball (4.24 FIP). Romano averaged 7.6 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 0.93 HR/9 to go along with a strong 50.4 percent ground-ball rate in that rookie showing and looked like a potential back-end starter for what was then a still-rebuilding Reds club.
In the two years since that time, however, Romano’s results in the big leagues have cratered. He started 25 games in 2018 and made another 14 relief appearances but saw his ERA balloon to 5.31 as his strikeout rate (6.5 K/9), home-run rate (1.42 HR/9) and grounder rate (45.4 percent) went in the wrong direction. Romano did have some success in his 14 1/3 innings as a reliever that season, so the Reds tried him out as a full-time bullpen piece in 2019, but that experiment didn’t yield better results; Romano pitched to a 4.28 ERA in Triple-A and allowed 14 runs on 22 hits and eight walks in 16 1/3 big league innings (7.71 ERA).
The Reds will now have a week to trade Romano, release him or place him on outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that acquires him will either need to carry him on the Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment once again during Spring Training.
Reds Select Joel Kuhnel’s Contract
The Reds have selected the contract of right-hander Joel Kuhnel from Triple-A Louisville, and also called up righty Matt Bowman from their top affiliate, the club announced (Twitter link). Kuhnel and Bowman will take the roster spots of righty Sal Romano, who was optioned to Louisville, and Jared Hughes, who was claimed off waivers by the Phillies.
This will be the 24-year-old Kuhnel’s first taste of the big leagues, coming a little over three years after being the Reds’ 11th-round pick in the 2016 draft. Kuhnel pitched in both Double-A and Triple-A for the first time in 2019, quickly moving up the ladder thanks to a combined 2.18 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and 3.13 K/BB rate over 53 2/3 relief innings. MLB.com ranks Kuhnel as the 24th-best prospect in Cincinnati’s farm system, noting that “his fastball touches triple-digits with ease and he mixes in an 89-93 mph slider and a low-90s changeup.”