Jordan Romano says he holds no ill feelings toward the Toronto Blue Jays for non-tendering him last month.
"In this game you try not to take anything personal, right? And that's just how I'm trying to take it," Romano said Tuesday during Blair and Barker. "Throughout my career with the Blue Jays, honestly, they treated me nothing but fair. Surrounded me with great teammates. Even with the coaches, front office, there's never been any animosity or anything like that, and it's still the same after I got non-tendered."
The Blue Jays opted to cut Romano ahead of the Nov. 22 deadline for teams to offer contracts for the 2025 season. The right-hander, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his throwing elbow in July, was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $7.75 million, but the Blue Jays could have offered him a minimum of $6.2 million in arbitration.
General manager Ross Atkins expressed interest in retaining Romano during a meeting with reporters in early December, but Romano ultimately signed a one-year, $8.5-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. The deal includes a $500,000 bonus if he throws 60 innings.
"It was between the Phillies and a couple teams," Romano told hosts Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker. "But the Phillies, just with how much they're winning, the talent, the city, everything, I decided to go with them."
Romano says he began to notice an issue with his elbow in September 2023. It didn't get better during the off-season and worsened during spring training, when he dealt with more soreness.
He opened the 2024 campaign on the injured list and pitched in just 13.2 innings for the Blue Jays before going back on the IL at the end of May. He was clearly not himself, sporting a 6.59 ERA with a 21-per-cent strikeout rate.
Now, Romano’s continuing with his rehab and throwing progression in Florida and says he feels healthy and that his fastball velocity is where he wants it to be at this stage in his recovery. The right-hander was asked where he fits in the Phillies bullpen picture and while he didn't say if he would get a chance to close games, Romano noted that he's "trying to fill in where I can fill in [and] just get big outs whenever need be."
Romano, a native of Markham, Ont., spent the past six seasons with the Blue Jays. He became a fan-favourite and developed into one of the sport's best closers with his hometown club while amassing 163 saves and two all-star selections.
"When I look back at my time there, it's not bitter, it's just kind of like, that was such a cool experience," said Romano. "And I'm glad I got to do that because it was really my dream.
"Obviously, would have liked to make some deep playoff runs during that time and do other things," he continued. "But even performance-wise, I'm happy with how I competed and treated people and all that. I look at it just like a really cool chapter in my life and kind of on to the next one."
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