SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — No major league pitcher has climbed the mound at the Giants’ Waterfront Stadium in more games than Sergio Romo. He soaked up the cheer 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 really made him understand where home was.
“I’ve never been booed, even if I showed up in a Dodger uniform,” Romo said. “That’s how passionate they are. You didn’t see the jersey I was wearing. You saw me anyway. That’s really the best way I can put it: I just appreciated how visible my teammates, the fans, all made me feel. Maybe they helped me to feel visible to myself. I knew I was doing something right. I knew I was home.”
And now, six years after he pitched his last pitch as a Giant and embarked 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 has, 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 deal that will include an invite to major league camp. He is scheduled to travel to Arizona on Friday and arrive at Scottsdale Stadium awaiting an investigation to find a locker containing a Giants uniform. He will not dress with the coaches and special assistants. He is drafted into the clubhouse along with his new teammates.
If all goes according to plan, the Giants will work with Romo to build his conditioning and arm strength to appear in an exhibition game or two, including the Bay Bridge exhibition finals on March 27 against the A’s in San Francisco. The 40-year-old right-hander would jog up the hill one more time to the frenetic banda beat of “El Mechón,” snapping a few of his sweeping sliders and ending one of the most remarkable careers in Giants history.
Unless…
“When they came up to me, it was like, ‘You never know, you might 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 won’t find that. But I know I’ll try to rip my ass off when I’m out there. I might actually be nervous for a change.”
Romo’s fearlessness was a hallmark, as was his distinctive slider, which made him a relief pitcher ahead of his time in a game increasingly focused on throwing himself out of the bullpen. No pitch he’s thrown in his career has been bolder or more emblematic than the otherwise benign 88-mph fastball in 2012 that froze a Triple Crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, for the Giants’ World Series championship in to win Detroit.
on ESPN just one of my favorite single pitches of all time. Sergio Romo threw slider after slider to Miguel Cabrera, who was limping around on the mound, freezing him with a three-shot fastball. Masterful “backward” 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 at places like Arizona Western College, the University of North Alabama and Colorado Mesa University hoping someone would notice him and give him another chance to pitch. And he played a sport more ruthless than Monsanto, routinely weeding out physically perfect specimens who were taken in the first round and had all the shiny new gear they could ask for and were given every developmental advantage. In this environment, how does an undersized 28th player from Brawley, CA ever have a shot at making the big leagues? Or imagine the possibility of staying there?
But Romo had something that so many of these first-rounders didn’t have.
He hurled his slider with all the biblical fearlessness of a slingshot. And he never lacked for stones.
Now Romo, the last active member of the Giants’ core four relief pitchers, is planning to throw that slider one last time in a Giants uniform.
Giants president Farhan Zaidi brokered the deal with Romo’s agent Barry Meister, who understood what closing the circle would mean for his client. Former Giants general manager Bobby Evans, who lives a few doors down from Romo in San Francisco, also helped plant a seed that germinated in Zaidi’s mind as early as the second half of last season. Zaidi said he was considering approaching Meister about Romo after the Blue Jays fired him on July 20, but the Giants didn’t have a 40-man roster open at the time and Romo had other interests. He signed with Monclova on August 1, preventing him from joining the other members of the Core Four in the Giants 2012 World Series reunion 12 days later.
Romo went into the past offseason unsure of his plans. But he said he knew it was time to pursue a career when he didn’t receive an invitation to represent Mexico at the World Baseball Classic. So he began a lifestyle change to become a full-time father. He married his longtime partner Melinda in January and enjoys the closer bond he has with his sons Rilen, 17, Rex, 11, Rhys, 7, Mateo, 4, and Lucas, who turns 2 on Sunday. enters
But a few more weeks in a Giants uniform was too good to pass up.
“It’s a legitimate off-roster invitation,” said Romo, who is bringing his entire family to experience the next few weeks together. “I’ll take care of all the formalities. I am not blaming you. I am 40 years old. I can’t blame them for wanting to cover their butts if something bad happens. I just hope I can get the team discount so I can get all my kids new jerseys! I’m excited, I really am.”
Circumstances could be different now. Likewise the expectations. If nothing else, Romo will be in camp to advise Giants pitchers on the mound mentality and maybe even share a secret or two about his signature slider. He smiles every time he hears about the latest pitch design trends.
“You’re teaching the sweeper now!” he said in a fake announcer’s voice, interrupted by a laugh. “This is the year of the sweeper. I was like, ‘Oh, so the sweeper is important now? The sweeper is a game changer?’ Hm. So the last 15 years of my life wasn’t it? It was groundbreaking for me!
“Maybe I’ll pass the slider on one day. I hesitate to do this, I can’t lie. It’s the only real thing that sets me apart from the rest. It’s just different.”
This isn’t the first time the Giants have pulled some strings on the roster to allow a beloved player to return to finish his career in a Giants uniform. In 2008, they signed major league first baseman JT Snow and placed him very briefly on the 40-man list for the penultimate game of the 2008 season. Snow, who had not appeared in a big league game with the Red Sox since 2006, was announced as a starter at first base, took the field, received a final ovation, and then handed the position to Travis Ishikawa before Matt Cain threw the game first pitch. Snow received a prorated portion of what was then the major league minimum salary of $390,000, equivalent to $2,131.
“That’s a good representation of what we think of him,” then general manager Brian Sabean said at the time. “He’s one of the most popular players and one of the truest professionals we’ve ever had in uniform.”
Unlike Snow’s departure, Romo’s final appearance will not appear on official baseball stats. Although Romo was originally set to sign a one-day contract, 40-man squad spots are always the most valuable in the days leading up to the season opener. So, crafting the NRI contract and appearing in the Bay Bridge series will be a way for the Giants to salute Romo and give their fans a memorable moment without complicating their roster plans as they make their final picks for the opener meet at Yankee Stadium on March 30.
Romo, who has been informed that left-hander Scott Alexander is currently wearing the number 54, said he doesn’t want or need his old number.
“I promise I’m not trying to take anyone’s place,” he said. “I’ll tell you straight, I don’t come here to form a team. I can’t do this team right now. The main thing is that I don’t try. I like where I am in life to see my kids as much as possible. I have found a home here (in San Francisco).
“During most of my career, especially my Giants days, I struggled to find a home for myself. I was going back to Brawley and it just didn’t feel right. It felt good to be home and with my parents and immediate family, but I had to leave after a few days. It was like I should be somewhere else. And now that I’m here, I don’t feel like I’ll ever have to leave. I have what I need here. Here I have what is good for me.
“So it means a lot to come full circle. Hunter (Pence) has to do it. Pablo (Sandoval) got the chance. Matt Cain, he was blessed to play his entire career in one place. So that’s humbling. I’m not trying to be too inappropriate, but it’s fucking goofy, you know?
Romo isn’t sure what to expect. All he knows is that the emotions will flow.
“The only thing I don’t want to do, but I’m afraid I probably will, is end up crying,” he said. “I don’t know emotionally how I’m going to feel. Not just running out of there, but…running away.
“If we all had to write a dream scenario on a piece of paper, like, ‘This is what you want to happen,’ I still couldn’t have written it as well as it happened. In all aspects.
“Eternal giant. You hear that, forever giant. And for me it’s about that. I mean that. Forever grateful. Legally, that’s what’s going on.”
(File photo of Romo in 2014: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)