The Red Sox’s ongoing effort to bolster their pitching depth in the upper tiers of their minor league system continued on Friday with another acquisition. Boston signed right-hander Sal Romano to a minor league contract and placed him with Triple-A Worcester, as noted in the team’s transactions log. Romano, a Connecticut native, has already joined the WooSox in Toledo.
At 30 years old, Romano has seen action in 88 major league games, making 41 starts, across five seasons with the Reds (2017-21), Brewers (2021), and Yankees (2021). However, he hasn’t pitched in the majors for three years. Throughout his MLB career, he’s maintained a 5.23 ERA, 4.86 FIP, and a 6.9 K/9 ratio over 275 ⅓ innings. Although he was part of Cincinnati’s starting rotation in 2017 and most of 2018, he transitioned to a reliever role exclusively from 2019 to 2021.
In 2021, Romano had stints with three different teams, concluding with a brief four-game appearance with the Yankees in September. Following that season, he briefly joined the Seattle Mariners on a minor league contract but retired shortly thereafter. After a year away from professional baseball in 2022, he returned to pitch two games in Venezuelan winter ball before the 2023 season. Although he wasn’t affiliated with any Major League organization last year, he did pitch 84 ⅓ innings for the Gastonia Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League, posting a 4-5 record with a 4.91 ERA.
Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing 255 lbs., Romano offers additional pitching depth to the WooSox, a team in need of innings. Since late March, the Red Sox have been augmenting their Triple-A rotation with the additions of Naoyuki Uwasawa and Vladimir Gutierrez, aiming to shore up their pitching depth behind a big league squad dealing with injuries to four starters: Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello, and Garrett Whitlock. Cooper Criswell, Josh Winckowski, and Chase Anderson are currently the primary fill-in options on the major league roster.
