The Blue Jays announced that closer Jordan Romano has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Left-hander Brendon Little was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to take Romano’s spot on the active roster.
This is the second time this season that Romano has been sidelined with elbow inflammation, as his first stint on the injured list delayed his 2024 debut until April 16. The results in between those two IL stints have been very shaky, as Romano has a 6.59 ERA over 13 2/3 innings. Romano’s 21% strikeout rate is far below the career 30.5K% he took into the season, and batters have been absolutely teeing off on Romano to the tune of a 50% hard-hit ball rate. The right-hander has also allowed four homers over his small sample size of 13 1/3 frames, after giving up 10 homers total over 123 innings in 2022-23.
In short, Romano simply hasn’t looked right all season, whether that was due to any lingering elbow problems or more underlying issues. Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that Romano’s MRI came back clean, so it doesn’t seem to be a case of any structural damage that could threaten Romano’s season. It could be that this 15-day absence might be a bit of reset just to get Romano entirely healthy and mechanically fine, or the Blue Jays could keep him out for longer than 15 days just to fully ensure that Romano’s inflammation woes are behind him.
If the Jays can’t turn things around from their underwhelming 27-29 start, Romano (if healthy) is one of many names on the roster that could be speculative trade candidates come the deadline. Romano has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before hitting free agency after the 2025 season, and this extra year of control could make him an attractive asset for teams in need of bullpen help. Naturally that would require Romano to return to action relatively soon, and for him to display both good health and a form more akin to his 2020-23 form.
While Toronto’s struggling offense has taken most of the heat for the club’s 27-29 start, the relief corps has also been a major issue. The Blue Jays’ 4.60 bullpen ERA ranks 26th of 30 teams, as Yimi Garcia has been the only consistently reliable option amidst the other set of struggling relievers, with Romano the face of these struggles given his status as closer. Unsurprisingly, Schneider said that Garcia will probably get most of the save situations while Romano is out, with Chad Green also factoring into the closer mix now that Green is back from his own stint on the IL.