The big bullpen addition for the Phillies over the winter was reliever Jordan Romano. Philadelphia signed Romano to a one-year, $8.5-millilon contract. They also signed Joe Ross to a one-year, $4-million dollar deal with both moves being seen as key additions to a somewhat beleaguered 2024 bullpen.

Today, the Phillies placed Romano (2-4, 8.23) on the IL with right middle finger inflammation (ironically, the same injury suffered by many Phillies fans when they see him coming into a game.) Ross (2-1, 5.12) was simply released by the Phillies. Some doubt whether Romano is injured or whether the Phillies are giving him somewhat of a timeout in an attempt to fix whatever is ailing him. It needs to be mentioned that Romano has a clause in his contract that pays him an additional $5oo-thousand if he appears in 60 or more games. He currently is at 49 games and with 29 games remaining, that swollen finger may have saved the Phillies a few bucks.

To replace the pair of relievers, the Phillies have recalled Daniel Robert and Lou Trivino from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Robert has been shuttling between Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia for much of the summer and has compiled a 5.79 ERA in 13 games covering 10.1 innings. He has struck out 14 batters for Philadelphia. With Lehigh Valley, Robert is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 13 relief appearances.

Lou Trivino has put together some travel miles this season. Opening the year with San Francisco, Trivino had a 5.84 ERA in 11 relief outings and became a free agent after he rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Sacramento. He signed with the Dodgers and was 2-1 with a 3.76 ERA in two starts and 24 relief appearances but was designated for assignment and ultimately released, opening the door for the Phillies to sign him as a free agent. Trivino was assigned to Lehigh Valley and had thrown seven shutout innings over six relief outings. Trivino was born in Green Lane, PA, approximately an hour drive outside of Philadelphia.

Last season Romano was limited to 15 games with Toronto due to recurring elbow inflammation. In those 15 games, Romano threw just 13.2 innings and was 1-2 with a 6.59 ERA. The Phillies had hoped that being injury free would allow Romano to return to the form that he showed prior to that when he saved 36 games in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons with Toronto and posted an ERA of 2.11 in ’22 and 2.91 in ’23. Ross was coming off of a season where he was 3-6, 3.77 in 15 relief appearances and 10 starts for Milwaukee.