Atkins: Blue Jays will be 'heavily pursuing' return for Romano

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays removed Jordan Romano from their roster couple of weeks ago, but they’re still interested in signing the two-time All-Star, according to general manager Ross Atkins.

Speaking to the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America Tuesday, Atkins described the decision to non-tender Romano as a tough one and left the door open to a return for 2025.

“Very difficult decision on a personal level (because of) how much he's meant to this city, country (and) team (and) what he's accomplished,” Atkins said. “From a business standpoint, we have to operate as one. We remain interested in him and will be heavily pursuing his return and hope that that's a potential reality.”

Romano is now free to sign with any team, so the Blue Jays will have competition for the services of the 31-year-old, who underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery in July. The timeline of that procedure didn’t allow for a return in 2024, but Atkins said the Blue Jays believe Romano will pitch at full strength in 2025.

“I have no concerns,” the GM said. “I feel like he will be back physically. We have no medical concerns.”

So why would the Blue Jays remove Romano from their roster if they’re in serious need of bullpen help and they believe the Markham, Ont., native will be healthy and productive next year? It likely comes down to cost.

In 2024, Romano earned $7.75 million via arbitration, and league rules dictate that a player’s salary can’t be reduced by more than 20 per cent in arbitration. That means the Blue Jays would have had to guarantee Romano at least $6.2 million in 2025, had they tendered him a contract.

Although there’s certainly a case to be made for making that offer, the Blue Jays evidently didn’t believe that a $6.2-million guarantee was worth it (if they do offer Romano a new contract, it stands to reason the 2025 guarantee would come in below that figure). Whether Romano is interested in returning remains to be seen, and some industry observers predict he’s likely to leave.

Regardless, the Blue Jays have lots of work ahead when it comes to their 2025 bullpen. They removed Romano, Genesis Cabrera and Dillon Tate from their roster last month without making substantive additions to the group that finished 29th among the 30 MLB teams in bullpen ERA last year.

At some point this off-season, the Blue Jays will need to strengthen their relief corps, whether through major-league free agency, trades, waiver claims, minor-league signings or some combination of the above. Otherwise, they risk running into more late-game trouble in 2025.