How the Blue Jays lost Romano in a Vegas gamble but won big when they got him back

ARLINGTON, Texas — At the 2018 Las Vegas winter meetings, the Toronto Blue Jays found a technicality in the draft Rule 5 eligibility rules and saved a spot on their 40-man roster to place a big bet. Almost four years later, the payoff of this gamble isn’t in making the would-be Elvis Luciano falter, but in avoiding the consequences of leaving Jordan Romano unprotected.

A reminder of what turned out to be extremely fortunate comes this weekend as the Blue Jays visit Globe Life Park for three games against the Texas Rangers, who had the electric-armed right-hander from Markham, Ontario, decided in Spring 2019 but choose not to keep it.

It wasn’t clear at the time how transformative a decision would be for the Blue Jays. But a role change that year began his evolution from mediocre minor league starter to all-star closer. With 31 saves and counting, the 76-60 Blue Jays — third wildcard holders — wouldn’t be where they are without him.

“It’s pretty cool,” Romano said after hitting the 30-save plateau a weekend ago. “A few years ago I wanted to be closer, it was just so far away. But (30 saves) means a lot. A save means we’ve won a game, so I’m glad I was able to contribute to so many wins.”

Romanos 31^St Wednesday night’s 4-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles was the latest example of the reliability interim manager John Schneider has come to rely on. He’s been three-up, three-down with two strikeouts in that one and has now gone 10 straight outs without conceding a run, recording four outs or more three times while pitching four times in that span on consecutive days.

Although Romano made things interesting during last Sunday’s milestone against the Pittsburgh Pirates — when he hit the side to escape a second and third jam and earn a 4-3 win — he was largely automatic.

Underpinning this run of success was a slight increase in his fastball speed — from 96-97 mph to 97-98 mph — and, perhaps more importantly, the way he manipulates his slider, which he’s using just over half the time throws. and in all points.

While earlier in the season the Slider was generally sitting 85-87, he’s now more like 87-89 with it, peaking at 90.9 mph against the New York Yankees on Aug. 18, a strategic change that started on the situational use and demonstrates its continuous growth.

“My slider early in the count, I feel more like a curveball, I can land it either side of the plate,” Romano said. “But 0-2, 1-2, I want to throw that tight hard at the bottom of the zone. I feel like this is more like a swing and miss one. That’s what I’m trying to do for storage.”

In this way, his slider’s variations serve almost as a third pitch, which he can use for both advancement and early contact.

Part of his train of thought came from his extra-inning excursion on July 16 against the Kansas City Royals when he gave up a two-run homer on July 10^th to Vinnie Pasquantino on a 1-1 slide. Although the Blue Jays rallied to win the game in the bottom half, Romano didn’t like the way he threw the field.

“The next day I was just like, you know what, I’m just going to tear it to a point, have faith in it and it played better than many other days,” said Romano, whose average slider was the The outing on July 17 went up a mile an hour and put down two batters, including Pasquantino. “This is going to be my thing going forward, just rip it off in one place, don’t try to put it anywhere and see what happens.”

The application of that mindset extends to his approach to the ninth inning, in a role that can chew up many relievers with the raw stuff that requires high leverage.

An example was the game against the Pirates, when he could easily have pondered the need to avoid contact or, failing that, to keep the ball infield to prevent the tied and winning runs from scoring . Instead, he kept telling himself to throw the best shot possible every time, and take one throw at a time until he pulled the team back.

“If you think about the position you’re in, you can win the game, lose the game, that’s not the right thing,” he explained. “Being in these spots a lot, my process is just pitching until you’re done, win or lose.”

That’s usually a win, and while the potential was certainly there this spring of 2019, it was definitely not guaranteed.

At camp with the Rangers, Romano appeared in seven games and allowed four runs, all against San Diego in one game, for a 3.86 ERA over 9.1 innings with six strikeouts. Staying wasn’t enough for him and he was returned to the Blue Jays, home after being selected by the Chicago White Sox in the Rule 5 draft and then turned over to Texas.

After a difficult start at Triple-A Buffalo when he conceded 21 earned runs in 20.2 innings over nine games, he began to turn the curve, making his debut in 2019 and embarking on the developmental path that has transformed him into the force that he is now.

“I enjoyed starting and it’s almost like I want to prove I can do it as a starter, but probably 17, 18 and 19 I wanted to be in the bullpen,” says Romano. “I thought I was the best fit. They always wanted me to make the switch, so we tried that for a couple of years, but it never worked. But I always wanted to be in the bullpen. That’s where I feel I belong. I always felt like I could do it if I just keep at it.”

To his credit, he persevered and the Blue Jays reaped the rewards when their win in Las Vegas, with some help from the Rangers, avoided what would have been a disastrous loss.