The Blue Jays didn’t make Jordan Romano a contract provide earlier than the nearer was non-tendered this week, the Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm experiences. This obvious lack of curiosity in retaining Romano at any value (not to mention his projected $7.75MM arbitration wage) in all probability closes the door on any probability of a reunion between Romano and the Jays, so the two-time All-Star will virtually certainly be pitching elsewhere in 2025. It wasn’t essentially a shock that Romano was non-tendered, given his excessive price ticket and the uncertainty over his well being scenario after his injury-riddled 2024 marketing campaign.
Romano didn’t pitch after Could 29 and he underwent an arthroscopic surgical procedure on his proper elbow in July. As Chisholm notes, Romano instructed the Toronto Star’s Mike Wilner earlier in November that he was quickly going to start out throwing off a mound, and “that he was feeling nice” within the restoration from his surgical procedure. Whereas extra specifics on Romano’s well being are certain to emerge over the offseason, it’s clear that the Jays didn’t share the reliever’s confidence in his elbow. Discovering a brand new nearer is now the newest merchandise on Toronto’s prolonged winter to-do listing, and the Jays already had plenty of work to do in fixing a bullpen that was one among baseball’s worst final season.
Extra from across the AL East….
The Yankees are open to a reunion with Jonathan Loaisiga, although Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Publish experiences that the Bombers are one among 14 groups which have proven curiosity within the reliever. Loaisiga has pitched solely 21 2/3 massive league innings during the last two seasons, as elbow issues (together with a bone spur elimination surgical procedure) restricted him to 17 2/3 frames in 2023, and he tossed solely 4 innings earlier than a UCL surgical procedure introduced his 2024 season to a fast finish. Loaisiga’s process wasn’t a Tommy John process, and he was throwing from 90-foot distances for scouts earlier this week, with the Yankees among the many golf equipment with an evaluator available. All 163 of Loaisiga’s MLB video games have are available a Yankees uniform, so the workforce has loads of familiarity with the right-hander’s potential when wholesome, and in addition the within scoop on his well being standing. Signing Loaisiga wouldn’t be costly for the Yankees or any workforce which may provide him a contract this winter, making him an fascinating buy-low candidate on the bullpen market.
Austin Hays was traded from the Orioles to the Phillies previous to the commerce deadline, however now that Hays is a free agent after being non-tendered, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com thinks there’s an opportunity Hays may return to Baltimore. Hays had an injury-plagued 2024 season that included a extreme kidney an infection that emerged throughout his time in Philadelphia, and he wound up with a below-average 98 wRC+ from a .255/.303/.396 slash line in 255 complete plate appearances. The outfielder was considerably higher each offensively and defensively through the 2021-23 seasons when wholesome, and Baltimore has a transparent want for right-handed hitting outfielders (and right-handed hitting basically).
It stays to be seen if the Rays will ever once more play at Tropicana Area, however for a minimum of the 2025 season, the membership will play at George M. Steinbrenner Area in Tampa. The transfer will impression the Rays’ roster development plans, as some adjustment is of course mandatory just by dint of the truth that the Rays will now be taking part in outdoor through the Florida summer time moderately than inside the confines of a domed stadium. With a number of rainouts now a probability, president of baseball operations Erik Neander is wanting so as to add multi-inning pitching depth at each the Main and minor league ranges. As Neander instructed Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Instances, “it’s…ensuring that we will defend our arms and maneuver the roster in a manner the place if a sport will get disrupted and delayed after two innings and also you lose a starter, and you then’ve obtained to cowl 4 or 5 [innings] because it comes again earlier than you’ll be able to go to the bullpen, that you’ve got the flexibility to maneuver daily as wanted, to cowl that and do it in a manner that’s answerable for the well-being of the group.” Extra pitching may even be wanted for the reason that Stein is anticipated to be a way more hitter-friendly setting than the Trop, although the Rays’ personal hitters also can profit from the scenario.
