Few names make Phillies fans’ blood boil like Jordan Romano. The 2025 free agent signee lit many a late lead on fire last season, and put together one of the worst seasons a relief pitcher has ever had in red pinstripes. Romano’s career is all but dead after another failed signing by the Los Angeles Angels, but he resurfaced once again on Saturday in the worst possible place for him: Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies
Romano had a nice six-year run with the Toronto Blue Jays to begin his career, posting a solid 2.90 ERA and racking up 105 saves in 231 appearances. The cracks in the armor became hard to ignore during the 2024 season, in which the Canadian limped to an ugly 6.59 mark in an injury-shortened 15-game sample size.
A blind man could have seen that Romano was cooked at that point, but embattled Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski decided to roll the dice on the two-time All-Star anyway. The Phillies and Romano agreed to a one-year, $8.5 million pact in the hopes that he could right the ship and serve as a shutdown closer for a (pre-Jhoan Duran) team that desperately needed one.
That rickety setup imploded practically from day one, and Romano was completely unusable in high-leverage situations. All told, the right-hander was torched for an 8.23 ERA across 49 appearances with the Phils and was shut down in late August ostensibly due to a finger injury.
While most fans rightly believed that should have been the end of Romano’s big league career, the hapless Los Angeles Angels inexplicably gifted him a $2 million contract for the 2026 season. Like most things the Angels touch, it went belly up right out of the gate and Romano was released before the end of April after working to a pathetic 10.13 ERA in 11 contests.
Jordan Romano and Coors Field are a match made in Hell
The pitching-challenged Colorado Rockies signed the veteran to a risk-free minor league deal in early May and he acquitted himself decently well with a 4.15 ERA across nine Triple-A appearances. That improvement will now be put to the test as the Rockies selected him to their 26-man roster ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the San Francisco Giants.
It won’t be easy for Romano to prove his worth with the Rockies, as he’ll be pitching his home games in the most dangerous stadium in the sport: Coors Field. The thin mountainous air of Denver allows the ball to fly, leading to loads of homeruns; not a good sign for Romano. To wit, Coors topped Baseball Savant's park factor rankings, a list which evaluates each team's home park in order of how hitter-friendly they are.
Ultimately, this will probably go down as Jordan Romano’s swan song, unless he’s somehow able to engineer an incredibly unlikely turnaround. If there’s one place a pitcher should avoid when looking to get his career back on track, it’s Coors Field. And if there’s one pitcher Phillies fans are certain will never be effective again, it’s Jordan Romano.
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