Now a Dodger, Sergio Romo hopes Giants fans still have love for him
PHOENIX – Sergio Romo pumps his fist and lets out a muted “Yeah!’’ upon hearing former teammate Brandon Crawford believes the veteran reliever should be cheered when he makes his first appearance back at the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.
Many a player would try to downplay his emotions about returning to the place where he used to toil, especially when it won’t happen for another two months. Romo, though, has never been one to hide his feelings, whether on the mound or elsewhere.
On this beautiful spring day he’s happy, jovial, a smile constantly appearing on his bearded face below a Los Angeles Dodgers cap, a look that will take some getting used to for those who watched him in a Giants uniform for nine seasons.
He knows it will be jarring for thousands of fans to see him wearing the despised Dodger blue when the four-time defending NL West champs visit their longtime rivals April 24-27, but he wants them to know he didn’t just jump ship.
“I hope when I get there they’ll greet me well. I don’t expect it to be all that negative,’’ said Romo, who agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Dodgers in early February. “I’m sure they’ll let me know I don’t wear their uniform anymore, that I’m wearing different colors. But I think the majority will know my reasons, that it wasn’t like I didn’t want to be there anymore.’’
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Romo, who turns 34 on March 4, said he would have preferred to re-sign with the Giants, who selected him in the 28th round in the 2005 draft and watched as the scrawny youngster with the bedeviling slider became a key reliever – even the closer at times – for three World Series-winning teams.
But after the Giants endured a major league-high 30 blown saves last season, they were determined to shore up the ninth inning and spent $62 million on closer Mark Melancon. That left little room in the budget for Romo, who made $9 million as a setup man in 2016, missed nearly three months with an elbow injury and rankled some on the club with his mound antics.
Romo was concerned enough about how fans would perceive his departure that he sent them a message through the team’s flagship radio station, expressing his appreciation for his time in the Bay Area and their longtime support.
“I didn’t pick another team instead of them,’’ Romo told USA TODAY Sports. “They told me they didn’t have room for me anymore, that it was time for the young pitchers, who deserved it. You respect that. I didn’t leave for the money, because I was offered more elsewhere.’’
The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays were among the clubs pursuing Romo, with the latter believed to have topped the Dodgers’ offer. Romo said he even had a two-year offer from a team he didn’t name, which was especially tempting because he’s a year and 74 days short of completing 10 years of service in the majors, thus qualifying for a generous pension.
But instead he opted for Los Angeles, following the path recently blazed by popular Giants-turned-Dodgers Juan Uribe and Brian Wilson. Both were lustily booed at AT&T Park after going blue.
Romo said his decision had nothing to do with spite, but rather with the chance to play for the club he and his family rooted for when he was growing up in Brawley, Calif., about 200 miles southeast of L.A. Still, he insists a part of him – his heart – remains in San Francisco.
“That history together does not go away,’’ he said. “There’s no way to erase what we did, not just for the Giants organization but for San Francisco and the Bay Area. We brought them a lot of joy, and I’m happy to say I was part of something much bigger than I could have done individually.’’
Besides being closer to his family, Romo recognized there was a need he could fill on a strong playoff contender by joining the Dodgers. Though the club says he won’t pitch exclusively in the eighth inning, Romo essentially replaces top setup man Joe Blanton, who left via free agency.
Romo has seen his effectiveness fluctuate in recent years as his below-average fastball has lost zip, but he has kept his ERA below 3.00 each of the last two seasons and has always given right-handed batters fits. For his career, he has held them to a .187 batting average and .538 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
“He obviously has a lot of October experience, a lot of experience pitching late in games and in pennant races,’’ said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations. “From our standpoint, he’s one of the best right-on-right guys out there.’’
Some of his former teammates have already pondered the notion of facing Romo, and several of them – among them Buster Posey, Hunter Pence and Matt Cain, as well as general manager Bobby Evans – reached out with encouraging messages when he landed his new contract.
It remains to be seen whether Giants fans will be that open-minded. They certainly won’t be dancing in the aisles to “El Mechon,’’ the frenetic entrance song that became his signature, along with the t-shirts with not-so-subtle messages.
Born in Brawley – 21 miles north of the border – to Mexican parents, Romo still occasionally wears the t-shirt he unveiled during the parade following the 2012 World Series, the one he concluded by freezing the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera with a fastball down the middle.
The t-shirt, especially apropos at times like these when immigrants are under scrutiny, says, “I just look illegal.’’
“I wear it with pride, because that’s just my appearance,’’ Romo said. “My face does not say who I am, other than the smile I always have. It’s better if they let me show them the person I am.’’
The Giants already know. The Dodgers are just finding out.
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