Friday night was busy around Major League Baseball. The 8 p.m. non-tender deadline marked the cut-off for teams to offer arbitration-eligible players a contract for 2025. Any players non-tendered became free agents.
One of the Philadelphia Phillies' arbitration-eligible players is now a free agent after the team declined to tender outfielder Austin Hays. The Phillies also agreed to contracts with right-hander José Ruiz and catcher Garrett Stubbs, avoiding arbitration, and tendered contracts to their other five arbitration-eligible players.
Phillies need to check in on closer Jordan Romano after he was non-tendered by the Blue Jays
More than 60 players were non-tendered league-wide. The cohort included some intriguing relievers. One fascinating target from the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen, right-hander Jordan Romano, was one of the bigger names to hit the free agent pool.
Despite the surprise of the news of the non-tender to many outside of Toronto, Romano, now 31 years old, does carry some potential risk. There is some unknown about his elbow and where his velocity sits after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair an impingement in his right elbow in early July. He had been throwing in Florida but never made it back to the Blue Jays before the season's end.
The Phillies, who are looking to replace two high-leverage, closer-caliber arms in their bullpen, will surely do their due diligence on Romano. If he is indeed healthy, and with a return to Toronto ruled out, he should be a target for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and his front office.
The Canadian spent 10 years in the Blue Jays organization after being drafted in 2014. He had been in the bullpen since 2019 and had been the team's closer since taking over the role in 2021. Romano was due to make a projected $7.75 million in arbitration, and the Jays front office cut him loose after he struggled through an injury-riddled 2024 season.
An experienced closer, Romano's an intriguing free agent with a solid track record before this forgettable last campaign. Dealing with elbow problems from the beginning of the season, Romano only appeared in 15 games in 2024, posting a 6.59 ERA and 1.46 WHIP with eight saves in nine chances.
While those numbers are ugly, they don't reflect what he can be when healthy. Since 2021, he's fifth in saves in the majors and, up until 2024, ranked seventh among relievers with a 2.37 ERA. He went 105-for-118 in save opportunities for Toronto, posting a 2.90 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 231 career games. He picked up a career-high 36 saves in each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, earning two All-Star appearances.
If Romano is healthy, he should be a surefire bullpen target for the Phillies. Although, he'll also command plenty of interest on the free agent market.