Now almost five months into the 2025 campaign with the Philadelphia Phillies, it looks like there's very little that Jordan Romano can do to make his one-year, $8.5 million contract anything but a disastrous signing by the front office.
After another forgettable outing by Romano on Monday night against the Seattle Mariners, Phillies manager Rob Thomson shared his thoughts on his fellow Canadian with the media ahead of Tuesday's game.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson continues defending Jordan Romano despite unpredictable results
Despite having his finger on the pulse of his team better than anyone else, the skipper can't seem to make sense of Romano's season.
"He either shuts people down, or he gives up two or three runs," Thomson said. "He gave up a lot early in the season, and a lot of tough luck too, really. You look at last night, he gives up a jam-shot base hit, and then the guy fights him and fights him and fights him and he leaves a slider in his wheelhouse and he hits it over the fence. It just seems like it's been one of those years."
Rob Thomson explained to @MattGelb why the Phillies continue to give Jordan Romano chances. pic.twitter.com/AmhuG5mYYs
— On Pattison (@OnPattison) August 19, 2025
Thomson just about summed up Romano's season. The former two-time All-Star has a 7.56 ERA and 1.42 WHIP with 45 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings. He has surrendered nine home runs and 36 runs (35 earned), both career highs.
As Thomson mentioned, Romano has given up runs in bunches. The two runs he allowed in his Phillies debut on Opening Day were an ominous precursor to his season. There were the five runs in two games against the Dodgers a week later. Then he had the six-run blow up against the Miami Marlins on Apr. 19.
After that he had a run of 11 games during which time he allowed just one earned run in 10 1/2 innings. But that was followed by a three-spot against the Athletics. He then put together a month-long stretch with a 2.79 ERA before the Atlanta Braves tagged him for four runs on June 28 and the unforgettable three runs that Patrick Bailey and the San Francisco Giants hung on him on July 8.
With a 13.50 ERA since July 25, Romano has surrendered a pair to the New York Yankees, four to the Cincinnati Reds, and the most recent two he was charged with on Monday. The last five times he has given up runs have all been on home runs.
So, naturally, Thomson dropped this nugget at the end of the clip:
"But it's still good stuff. He gets swing and miss when he's on. And he's actually done a pretty good job at killing innings, coming in with traffic and getting out of it. So, I like him."
After all that, Thomson still has Romano's back. He certainly doesn't sound as exasperated as Phillies fans think he should, based on the replies to On Pattison's post on X.
I respect Rob defending his guys but uh I don’t think Romano 7 ERA is due to bad luck
— Quack®️ (@Donald_Duck217) August 19, 2025
As long as Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski keeps Romano on the roster, Thomson has to use him. And he'll defend his players. Who knows what the conversations behind closed doors sound like, but it's not Topper's style to air the team's dirty laundry in public.
And that's the case even if Thomson has no idea what to expect when he summons Romano from the bullpen (subscription required), according to The Athletic's Matt Gelb and Charlotte Varnes.
“Well, I can’t tell what he’s going to have coming out of the pen,” Thomson said. “Not until he gets out on the mound. So I just want to make sure that we give him time off because he seems to be stronger when he does have some time off. That’s the only thing you can do.”
The “bad luck jam shot” was a hanging slider that should have also been a HR. I get Rob isn’t gonna throw him under the bus but flat out lying to everyone makes him look stupid. pic.twitter.com/50qQmIwLAs
— Michael (@MikesTweets13) August 19, 2025
The Phillies had an opportunity to cut their losses on Tuesday. With José Alvarado rejoining the bullpen after serving his 80-game PED suspension. It was an opportunity that many fans had been hoping the team would take but didn't. But thanks to Zack Wheeler going on the injured list, there was still one last optionable bullpen spot being held by Nolan Hoffman, so Romano avoided the ax.
The Phillies can't be comfortable carrying such a wildly inconsistent performer into the postseason, can they? They might not have a choice. Alvarado isn't eligible for the playoffs, so they'll be down an arm already. However, with multiple starters having to shift to bullpen duty in October, fans can still hold out hope that Romano gets squeezed off the postseason roster.