Rockies agree to minor-league deal with two-time All-Star reliever

The Rockies’ most productive player so far this season is the epitome of a reclamation project, so what’s the harm in taking similar chances?

For the moment, that brings them to Jordan Romano, the former Toronto Blue Jays closer who posted 36 saves in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, both of which saw him earn All-Star appearances. But it’s been a rough ride since then, with injuries and a ballooning ERA and HR/9 rate.

The Rockies will bring Romano aboard on a minor-league deal and assign him to the Arizona Complex League. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding was first to report the move.

Last week, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim released Romano after he surrendered nine earned runs over five appearances and three innings that included two blown saves in the Angeles’ series against the New York Yankees last month.

That followed six scoreless appearances to open the season, when he posted four saves to temporarily stake a claim to the Angels’ closer role.

Injuries have sidetracked Romano over the past three seasons. He dealt with back problems in 2023, elbow issues in 2024 and right-middle finger numbness and inflammation last year. The elbow problems two years ago necessitated arthroscopic surgery.

With those issues, Romano’s velocity has dropped from his early-2020s apex; his four-seam fastball, which peaked at 97.6 MPH in 2021 and was still at 96.7 MPH in 2023, is down to 94.5 MPH this year. His slider, which sat at 88.4 MPH in 2021, is now at 84.7 MPH.

Romano’s FIP peaked at 2.82 in 2022; since then, it’s increased t. 3.46 in 2023, 6.17 in 2024. It improved to 5.39 last year, although his ERA in 2025 was a career-high 8.23.

So far this season, Romano’s FIP is 4.39, with an ERA now at 10.13 and a WHIP of 2.125 thanks to the rough going in his final five outings with the Angels.

Those multi-year trends aren’t promising. He’s been a two-pitch reliever for nearly all of his career, although he’s worked a splitter in for 5 percent of his pitches this year, per Statcast. And perhaps pitch mix and assortment might be part of what the Rockies focus upon to try and get the 32-year-old Romano trending in the right direction.

The Rockies’ bullpen has struggled in the last week; heading into Tuesday it ranked 20th in MLB in ERA, down 12 spots over the last week.

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