According to Ken Rosenthal, the Phillies have signed lefty reliever J.C. Romero to a three-year, $12MM deal. There’s a club option for a fourth year that would bring the total to $16.75MM.
This is a terrible signing. Is it really this hard to find a competent lefty reliever? The Phillies seem to be demonstrating an ignorance of basic pitching statistics. Romero’s contract is based on 36 innings. I admit: Romero is fairly tough to hit, and he keeps the ball on the ground (which limits home runs).
But his control is awful – he’s walked almost five batters per nine innings in his career. And while he has allowed fewer than a hit per inning in his career, his 2007 success with the Phillies is based on him allowing just 3.72 hits per nine innings. Limiting hits to that degree is simply not a repeatable skill, and the Phils are paying him as if it is.
