Jul 2, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano (68) walks to the bullpen before a game against the San Diego Padres at Citizens Bank Park. (Credit: Grace Del Pizzo-On Pattison)
Jordan Romano survived another roster crunch for the Phillies Tuesday, with RHP Nolan Hoffman optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for the returning José Alvarado on the 26-man roster. LHP Josh Walker was designed for assignment to clear room for Alvarado to return to the 40-man roster following the conclusion of his suspension.
One move — designating the struggling Romano for assignment — could have opened a spot on both the 40 and 26-man rosters for Alvarado. And considering Romano's ERA is now at 7.56 after he gave up a three-run home run to Cole Young in Monday's Phillies win over the Seattle Mariners, there would have been plenty of justification for it.
And yet, Romano will remain in the bullpen for at least another day. Why?
"You know, it's funny, I was looking at it today — he either shuts people down, or he gives up two or three runs," manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday afternoon. "He gave up a lot early in the season ... and a lot of tough luck, 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," Thomson continued. "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."
Rob Thomson explained to @MattGelb why the Phillies continue to give Jordan Romano chances. pic.twitter.com/AmhuG5mYYs
Are there some numbers to point to that suggest Romano has been a tad unlucky? Sure. Hitters have a .315 batting average on balls in play against Romano this year, significantly higher than the .279 career BABIP opposing hitters have against him. His 3.79 expected ERA and 5.06 FIP aren't as bad as his 7.56 ERA.
But at a certain point, all that really matters for relief pitchers are results. ERA can be a bit misleading at times for relievers if they have a few outliers early in the season. But a 7.56 ERA on Aug. 19 is a 7.56 ERA. Any way you slice it, this has been a disastrous season for the former All-Star.
Romano is a two-pitch pitcher, utilizing a fourseam fastball and slider. When one of those pitches isn't on, he's probably not going to be very effective.
Monday was an occasion where neither was particularly effective, as it took Romano 10 pitches to record just one out in relief of Ranger Suárez. His fastball normally sits at 95.5 mph. But the three fastballs he threw Monday averaged 93.7 mph. And then he hung a slider at the exact spot you don't want to against a left-handed hitter:
Absolutely crushed by Cole 🚀 pic.twitter.com/zyckf1CGMc
Romano has dealt with fluctuation in his fastball velocity at times this year, and that has made it difficult to project what he'll look like from outing to outing.
"I can't tell what he's gonna have coming out of of the 'pen — not until he gets out on the mound," Thomson said candidly. "So I just wanna 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. Once he's out on the mound, he's out on the mound. You don't really know coming in what he's got."
There is a reality here that while Thomson is the one who speaks to the media on a day-to-day basis, he didn't sign Romano to a one-year/$8.5 million deal this past offseason when he was coming off of an elbow injury. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made the decision to let both Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez walk in free agency, replacing them with Romano. Dombrowski has since signed David Robertson and traded for Jhoan Duran, drastically changing the complexion of the bullpen. But the risk he took on Romano clearly hasn't paid off.
With that said, the Phillies don't have to continue doubling down on Romano, who — outside of an excellent month of May — has failed in just about every role in the bullpen this year. Whether that's the call of Dombrowski or someone above him is unclear. Thomson isn't going to throw Romano under the bus publicly, but he surely can't feel great about bringing Romano into games.
Maybe if Hoffman hadn't given up three runs over one inning in his Major League Debut Monday, he would have stayed and Romano would have been DFA'd. Perhaps when Max Lazar's 15 days minimum at Triple-A are up following his option Monday, he'll return and Romano will go. For now, though, Romano's brutal tenure with the Phillies will continue.
