Apr 6, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano (68) hands the ball to manager Rob Thomson (59) after being removed from the game during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Remember the vitriol Phillies fans had for Taijuan Walker last year? Well, the winds have changed, and the anger has been directed at a new target - Jordan Romano.
Romano has been deserving of the anger.
He's appeared in nine games for the the Phillies so far this season. He was good in five of them. He was terrible in three of them. And the last one was... well...
"I just got crushed," Romano said after what he referred to as the worst outing of his career.
He nearly blew a seven-run lead in the ninth inning Saturday, yielding six runs in 2/3 of an inning.
The oddity was his fastball velocity was the best it's been all season, almost eclipsing 100 MPH (99.8 to be exact).
The belief after the game, and the narrative Sunday morning was, maybe Romano was tipping pitches.
"I mean, you never know," manager Rob Thomson said. "You dig into it and you think you got it. You think you've figured something out and that might not be it. So, we got to find out."
Jordan Romano now has a 15.26 ERA this season pic.twitter.com/KgaXEExPp2
A 15.26 ERA would suggest you better find out quickly. But Thomson indicated the Phillies still believe in Romano - what else would he say, right?
But the reality is, as much as the fans would like to see Romano disappear from the roster, it's not that simple. The Phillies will give him time.
"I still have confidence in him," Thomson said. "You have to. He's got good stuff."
One would imagine the Phillies will try to use him in more lower leverage situations until he figures it out, if he can at all, but Thomson said with the way the bullpen is right now, and the fact that the Phillies haven't had an off day in a bit, Romano could sill be asked to take down a key inning and not just come into a game with a big lead or a big deficit.
"With the way our bullpen is today, there's some guys that we may use today that we wouldn't be able to use tomorrow," Thomson said. "So, sometimes it shakes out where it's low leverage and sometimes it shakes out where you have to use them (in high leverage situations)."
Pretty candid postgame thoughts from Jordan Romano
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/iLvUsBXSO5
Thomson has always been patient with players and let them work through their struggles, although he's shown signs this season of not giving them as much of a leash.
When he was being asked questions about awfully slow starts from Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh last week, he said hitters need between 100 and 150 at bats before he really starts to think about if their role needs to change.
It's different, of course with pitchers, and even more so with relievers, as there can't be a numerical target for innings, because one can never know how many innings a reliever will throw in a given season.
Thomson said it's more a time frame for them.
"Probably a couple months," Thomson said. "I'd say a month-and-a-half to two months and then see where we're at."
That gives Romano another 3-5 weeks of confidence and trust from his manager to prove he can be the guy he was in Toronto before his injury.
Either that, or endure 3-5 more weeks of boo birds and social media venom before the Phillies determine if they have another Whit Merrifield situation on their hands.
