How does Phillies bullpen look after reportedly adding Jordan Romano? Relief corps builds on high upside

The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a one-year deal with former Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano worth more than $7.75 million, reports The Athletic.

Romano, 31, was non-tendered by Toronto a few weeks ago, sending him to free agency. He was a very good closer from 2021-23 for the Blue Jays, but last season dealt with an elbow injury that led to surgery. In his 15 appearances before that, he had a 6.59 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. 

Still, there’s plenty of potential for a bounce-back season. Romano had a 2.37 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 230 strikeouts in 186 innings in his previous three seasons. He has lots of closing experience while having also thrived in a setup role in 2020 and a portion of 2021. 

The Phillies had a solid bullpen last season, but Jeff Hoffman is a free agent, as is midseason acquisition Carlos Estévez, who got most of the save chances down the stretch for Philly. 

How do things look right now? 

Romano probably serves as the replacement for Estévez, though it’s always possible the Phillies bring him back. Romano and Orion Kerkering look to be the late-inning options from the right-handed side, as things stand, with José Ruiz next in line. As for the lefties, Matt Strahm returns after an amazing 2024 season and Tanner Banks was effective in his late-season outings. 

Then there’s José Alvarado. The big lefty is one of the hardest throwers in baseball and has nasty stuff, but his ERA skyrocketed from 1.74 in 2023 to 4.09 last season. His strikeout rate plummeted while he walked more batters. It’s possible the outlier for Alvarado was his awesome 2023 season, but relievers by nature are volatile and he’s shown the ability to be a top-flight reliever over the course of a full season.

Basically, the small group of Romano, Alvarado, Kerkering and Strahm has pretty big upside. It could well prove to be one of the better late-inning bullpens in the majors. There’s downside, too, though, which is why the Phillies shouldn’t be done adding to this relief corps.