Sources: Phillies agree to deal with Romero
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Sources: Phillies agree to deal with Romero
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
By Matt Gelb
The Phillies will replace J.C. Romero with... J.C. Romero.
Two baseball sources confirmed Monday the lefthander will return for his fifth season in Philadelphia. The two sides have reached an agreement on a one-year contract, pending a physical.
Romero is in Puerto Rico with his family for the holidays and the physical may not take place until after Jan. 1.
CSN Philly was the first to report the deal late Sunday night.
Romero, who turns 35 in June, will likely take a significant pay cut to remain with the team. He made $4 million in 2010 and shortly after the season ended, the Phillies declined a $4.5 million option for 2011, instead paying him a $250,000 buyout.
The Phillies had found a replacement for Romero earlier in the off-season when they agreed in principle to a one-year, $1.1 million deal with Dennys Reyes. But the two sides could not finalize the contract following Reyes' physical in Philadelphia.
With the market for lefthanders dwindling, the Phillies chose the familiar one. Romero lacked control in 2010, walking 29 batters while striking out 28. He blamed nebulous mechanical problems as the culprit and still showed flashes of effectiveness, but the walks hurt more than they had in years past.
It's likely Romero will make something near what Reyes was scheduled to make. Last week, assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said the team still had Reyes' money to allocate to a lefthanded reliever even after signing Cliff Lee.
They could have held onto that money and filled the lefthanded reliever job internally with either Antonio Bastardo, Dan Meyer, Mike Zagurski or Sergio Escalona, but chose for experience.
When Romero officially re-joins the roster, the Phillies will have to make a corresponding roster move because the 40-man roster is full.
@player: penny pinching? looks like someone doesn't pay attention or has a VERY short memory. They had the second highest payroll last year and will be in the top 3 again this year. Hardly penny pinching.— hoyaray- Give a young guy a chance ..........I think Vance Worley could do that role...— thin slice of life
- {a} Vance Worley is righthanded.
{b} He will probably be your 5th starter - assuming they trade Blanton.— betharu - he hasn't been the same since the steroid affair..maybe he needs to see a sports psychologist— jabac
- Hopefully he can regain his form of his first two years with the Phillies and not the last 2 years because he was terrible.— BobbyD
- I'm with the hokey=pokey guy. Bad move to bring back this head case.— NewMick314
Romero will be fine- he just needs to relax out on the mound. He throws 1 ball and gets all tight.
I like the signing.- Good signing. If he is healthy, he will be better than all of the lefties remaining out there. We aren't going to need him for more than 1 or 2 batters anyway. Our young lefties have been pushed too fast.
Enough with the "penny-pinching" and related commentary-the hard number facts contradict your case. This is real money involved here, not our tax money being laundered and distorted through levels of government. - Romero is terrible. Period.— phoreverphilly
- I think it's a good signing. It didn't cost them much and if he returns to 2008 form it'll be worth the risk...and they still have players in the minors should he fail to throw strikes.— TKB
- What else were the Phils going to do? I'm a little disappointed that Bastardo isn't ready to step in an fill this role.
- not lovin' Kendrick AND Romero back on the team, but hopefully we won't need to see JC much with the big 4 going deep. Did we drop Baez? He was a bust. Hope Bastardo develops.— deanm828
- He'll be a DFA canidate right around allstar break.— EarlKeese
- He was better on the juice— balitok
- Not a bad deal. JC still can get lefties out just has to keep the walks down. Bastardo will be there as well and may take over the more dominant role. Solid move.— Phillyphan26
