SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — No major-league pitcher has ascended the mound at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark in more games than Sergio Romo. He soaked up the cheers in so many of his 268 regular-season appearances as a critical member of the bullpen on three World Series championship teams. But it was his four additional appearances as a visitor that made him truly understand where home was.
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“I never got booed — even when I showed up in a Dodger uniform,” Romo said. “That’s how passionate they are. They didn’t see the jersey I was wearing. They still saw me. That’s really the best way I could put it: I just appreciated how visible my teammates, the fans, everybody made me feel. Maybe they helped me feel visible to myself. I knew I was doing something right. I knew I was home.”
And now, six years after throwing his last pitch as a Giant and embarking on a free-agent odyssey that took him to the Dodgers and Rays and Marlins and Twins and A’s and Mariners and Blue Jays and Monclova in the Mexican League, Romo is ready to call it a career. He’s ready to come home.
But first, he’s getting ready to pitch again.
The Giants and Romo have agreed to a minor-league contract that will include an invitation to major-league camp. He’s scheduled to travel to Arizona on Friday, and pending a physical, he will arrive at Scottsdale Stadium to find a locker with a Giants uniform. He won’t be dressing with the coaches and special assistants. He’ll be folded into the clubhouse among his new teammates.
If all goes to plan, the Giants will work with Romo to build up his conditioning and arm strength to appear in an exhibition game or two, including the March 27 Bay Bridge exhibition finale against the A’s in San Francisco. The 40-year-old right-hander would jog to the mound to the frenetic Banda beat of “El Mechón” one more time, break off a few of his sweeping sliders and bring closure to one of the most remarkable careers in Giants history.
Unless…
“When they approached me, it was, ‘You never know, you may catch lightning in a bottle,'” Romo said. “And I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’ll be honest with you guys, I haven’t done anything since September.’ There’s no lightning in this bottle, trust me. You’re not going to find that. But I know I’ll try to compete my ass off when I’m out there. I might actually be nervous for a change.”
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Romo’s fearlessness was as much a hallmark as his distinctive slider, which made him a relief pitcher ahead of his time in a game that has gravitated more and more to pitch specialization out of the bullpen. No pitch he threw in his career was more bold or emblematic than the otherwise benign 88-mph fastball in 2012 that froze a Triple Crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, to clinch the Giants’ World Series championship in Detroit.
on ESPN just now one of my favorite single pitches of all time. Sergio Romo throws slider after slider to Miguel Cabrera, limping around on the mound, freezes him for strike three with a fastball. Masterful “backwards” pitching. pic.twitter.com/o8HfoPGGuz
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) May 19, 2020
Romo came from a small town between the Salton Sea and the lettuce fields of the Imperial Valley. He stood a generous 5-foot-10 in his spikes. He pitched in places like Arizona Western College and University of North Alabama and Colorado Mesa University, merely hoping someone would notice him and keep giving him a chance to pitch. And he played a sport that is more merciless than Monsanto, routinely weeding out perfect physical specimens who are taken in the first round and have all the shiny new equipment they could want and receive every developmental advantage. In that environment, how does an undersized 28th-rounder from Brawley, Calif., ever stand a chance of reaching the major leagues? Or conceive the possibility of staying there?
But Romo had something that so many of those first-rounders did not.
He slung his slider with all the Biblical fearlessness of a slingshot. And he never lacked the stones.
Now Romo, the last active member of the Giants’ Core Four relief pitchers, plans to throw that slider in a Giants uniform one final time.
Giants president Farhan Zaidi brokered the deal with Romo’s agent, Barry Meister, who understood what coming full circle would mean to his client. Former Giants general manager Bobby Evans, who lives a couple doors down from Romo in San Francisco, also helped to plant a seed that was already germinating in Zaidi’s mind in the second half of last season. Zaidi said he considered reaching out to Meister about Romo after the Blue Jays released him on July 20, but the Giants didn’t have a 40-man roster vacancy at the time and Romo had other interest. He signed with Monclova on Aug. 1, which prevented him from joining the other members of the Core Four at the Giants’ 2012 World Series reunion 12 days later.
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Romo entered this past offseason unsure of his plans. But he said he knew it was time to call it a career when he didn’t receive an invitation to pitch for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. So he began a life transition into full-time family man. He married his longtime partner, Melinda, in January and he’s enjoying the tighter bonds he is forming with his sons Rilen, 17, Rex, 11, Rhys, 7, Mateo, 4, and Lucas, who turns 2 on Sunday.
But a couple more weeks in a Giants uniform was too good to pass up.
“It’s a legitimate non-roster invite,” said Romo, who is bringing his entire family with him to experience the next few weeks together. “I’m going through all the formalities. I don’t blame them. I’m 40 years old. I don’t blame them for wanting to cover their ass if something gnarly happens. I’m just hoping I can get the team discount so I can get all my kids new jerseys! I’m excited, I really am.”
The circumstances might be different now. So are the expectations. If nothing else, Romo will be in camp to counsel Giants pitchers on mound mentality and maybe even share a secret or two about his signature slider. He has to smile anytime he hears about the latest trends in pitch design.
“They’re teaching the sweeper now!” he said in a faux announcer’s voice punctuated with a laugh. “This is the year of the sweeper. I’m like, ‘Oh, so now the sweeper’s important? The sweeper’s a game changer?’ Huh. So the last 15 years of my life it wasn’t? It was game-changing for me!
“I might pass the slider on for once. I’ve been reluctant to do that, I can’t lie. It’s the only real thing that’s separated me from the rest. It’s just different.”
This isn’t the first time the Giants pulled some roster strings so that a beloved player could return to finish his career in a Giants uniform. In 2008, they signed first baseman J.T. Snow to a major-league contract and placed him ever so briefly on the 40-man roster for the penultimate game of the 2008 season. Snow, who hadn’t appeared in a big league game since 2006 with the Red Sox, was announced as the starter at first base, took the field, absorbed a final ovation and then yielded the position to Travis Ishikawa before Matt Cain threw the game’s first pitch. Snow was paid a pro-rated portion of the major-league minimum salary of $390,000 at the time, which amounted to $2,131.
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“It’s a good statement of what we think of him,” then-general manager Brian Sabean said at the time. “He is one of the most popular players and one of the truest professionals we’ve had in uniform.”
Unlike Snow’s farewell, Romo’s final appearance won’t show up in official baseball statistics. Although the original pitch was for Romo to sign a one-day contract, 40-man roster spots are always the most precious in the days leading up to the season opener. So concocting the NRI contract and the Bay Bridge series appearance will be a way for the Giants to salute Romo and give their fans a moment to remember without complicating their roster plans as they make their final selections for the March 30 opener at Yankee Stadium.
Romo, informed that left-hander Scott Alexander currently wears No. 54, said he doesn’t want or need his old number.
“I promise I’m not trying to take anyone’s spot,” he said. “I’m telling you straight up, I’m not coming here to make a team. I can’t make this team right now. Mainly I’m not trying to. I like where I am in life, seeing my kids as often as I can. I’ve made a home here (in San Francisco).
“For the grander part of my career, especially my Giants days, I was struggling to find a home for myself. I would go back to Brawley and it just didn’t feel right. It felt good to be home and around my parents and immediate family, but I had to leave after a few days. It was like I was meant to be somewhere else. And now, being here, I don’t feel I ever have to leave. I have what I need here. I have what makes me feel good here.
“So to come full circle means a lot. Hunter (Pence) got to do it. Pablo (Sandoval) got a chance to do it. Matt Cain, he was blessed to play his whole career in one place. So this is humbling. Not trying to be too inappropriate, but it’s f—ing dope, you know?”
Romo isn’t sure what to expect. He just knows the emotions will flow.
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“The one thing I don’t want to do that I’m afraid I probably will do is end up crying,” he said. “I don’t know emotionally how I’m going to feel. Not only running out there but … walking off.
“If we were to all write out on a piece of paper a dream scenario, like, ‘This is what you want to happen,’ I still couldn’t have written it as well as it happened. In all aspects.
“Forever Giant. You hear that, forever Giant. And for me, that’s what’s up. I mean that. Forever grateful. Legitimately, that’s what’s up.”
(File photo of Romo in 2014: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
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