The bullpen of the 2025 Philadelphia Phillies was a struggle from the jump. They had multiple issues throughout the year, and right-handed reliever Jordan Romano was the biggest culprit of them all. He's no longer the Phillies' problem, but he now finds himself with the Los Angeles Angels after he signed a one-year, $2 million deal on Tuesday.
Romano previously stole $8.5 million from the Phillies after signing as a free agent on a one-year deal before the 2025 season. As far as free agent signings, few could have ever gone as bad as Romano's. Across 49 games, Romano pitched to an 8.23 ERA, 1.453 WHIP, and a -1.7 bWAR. Also, of the 11 save opportunities he had, Romano blew three of them. His career ERA also ballooned from 2.90 to 3.73 in just one season. Him signing with the Angels, coming off a career-worst year, fits way too perfectly.
Angels are the perfect team to take Jordan Romano in after the kind of season he had in 2025
All Romano could get was a $2 million contract to his name, and it came at the expense of heading to the Angels. The Angels are officially an MLB team, sure, but they have played just as poorly as a Major League club can for over a decade. There's a reason that the Angels are the laughingstock of MLB. They take in all the scraps and put a mediocre product on the field like clockwork. They finished the 2025 season 72-90, last place in the AL West.
Romano was a two-time All-Star before his venture to Philadelphia, but baseball fans would never have guessed it based on how this past season went. Instead, he takes his position in a bullpen that has failed to make the postseason every year since 2014. The Angels' star outfielder, Mike Trout, was just 22-years-old the last time Los Angeles played baseball in Oct.
Perhaps Romano can find his way out of this massive void he's found himself in, but the Angels' history of bad contracts and bad players, led by a bad front office, leaves no real hope. The Angels' roster is littered with unknowns and question marks, and Romano fits into that scheme perfectly. Other teams could have taken a flyer on Romano with his value plummeting, but it only felt right for him to be on the Angels in 2026.