Twins: 3 players who should be dropped like a bad habit
2.. 2. Scouting Report. RP. Minnesota Twins. Sergio Romo. player. Pick Analysis
With their decision to decline his $5 million option for 2021, the Twins made it clear how they feel about Romo. While he brings a certain personality, guile and swagger to a team that hasn’t had enough of it, last season’s results were just mixed enough (4.05 ERA, 4.34 FIP, 4.90 xFIP, 10.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 48.1 percent fly ball rate) to be concerning. Pushing toward 38 years old and being almost a slider-throwing pitcher nearly two-thirds of the time isn’t all that exciting either.
The Twins could bring back Romo at a cheaper rate, given the bullpen is a need. But rumored interest in Joakim Soria shows they’re surveying options of a similar older and right-handed ilk. Soria was also a better pitcher in 2020 (2.82 ERA; 2.97 FIP).
Leave aside his role in the San Francisco Giants’ the world championship teams, the most recent of which was 2014, and Romo is what he is: a replacement-level pitcher who is not ideally closer (or even a high-leverage eighth-inning guy). The Twins should easily stay down the path of moving on here.