Marlins trade Sergio Romo to the Twins and get a power-hitting prospect in return
Sergio Romo was hanging out in the Miami Marlins’ bullpen on Saturday night, waiting out the team’s 9-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, when fans gave him his curtain call.
“Good luck, Romo,” he heard them say.
“I was like, ‘Thanks, I’m not warming up yet,’” Romo said. “Like they will say that usually when I’m warming up, which is great, but not when I’m just sitting there eating seeds.”
In reality, they were the first to give Romo the news that his short time with the Marlins had come to an end.
The Marlins on Saturday night traded the 14-year MLB veteran reliever along with pitching prospect Chris Vallimont and a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for Twins first base prospect Lewin Diaz. It’s the second consecutive season in which the Marlins have traded their closer before the deadline. They sent Brad Ziegler to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Tommy Eveld.
“Just want to start by thanking Sergio for his time with the Miami Marlins,” said Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill, who noted that about six to eight teams showed various levels of interest in Romo. “I wish him nothing but the best in moving on to the Twins. He did a great job with our young players. Championship pedigree and the Twins got themselves a good player in return. But from our perspective, we felt like we maximized an expiring asset and we were able to add, in our opinion, one of the most productive, impactful left-handed power hitters in all of minor league baseball in Lewin Diaz. We couldn’t be more excited to add that profile to our organization, to our system and we’re excited that we were able to get it done.”
Romo, the eccentric 36-year-old right-hander who won three World Series titles with the San Francisco Giants and signed a one-year deal with the Marlins in February, has worked primarily as the Marlins’ closer this season but is able to handle just about any bullpen role for a contending Twins team.
Romo has been electric for the Marlins since giving up four runs in an eventual 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves on June 9. In the 15 relief appearances since that day, Romo gave up just one earned run (two total) over 14 2/3 innings and has converted all six of his save opportunities. He had 12 strikeouts to just one walk in that span. For the season, Romo converted 17-of-18 save opportunities.
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Romo said of the trade. “I’m super excited. They’re in a really, really good position to make a playoff push. That’s exciting. It’s super fun baseball to play. But kind of mixed feelings based on the fact that I got to leave a bunch of dudes that I’ve grown to love. ... It’s a new chapter. It’s happened before and it’s the same feeling. It’s walking away from brothers, being traded away from brothers. But the good thing about is you get to maybe make new brothers. You keep building this network of friendships and relationships that I’ve been blessed with throughout my career.”
Romo’s value to the Marlins extended past the times he closed out games for the Marlins over the last four months. He provided a needed veteran presence for a youthful pitching staff. All but four regular Marlins pitchers this year — Jose Urena, Jarlin Garcia, Adam Conley and Wei-Yin Chen — are in either their first or second full major-league season.
“I’m happy for this organization,” Romo said earlier this season. “Why? Not just because they treated me well and gave me an opportunity to be myself — which I’m extremely thankful for — but I’m thankful that they let me see the growth and believed that I could contribute to that. To see these guys do it on their own, with a little bit of salt from me here and there, it’s super fun to be part of. Very proud of these youngsters. I really, really am.”
And now, those young guys will look to pick up Romo’s production.
Nick Anderson and Jose Quijada are two options to slide into the Marlins’ closer role with Romo gone. Both have thrown the ninth inning in limited capacities this season.
Anderson, a 29-year-old rookie, has hovered between pitching the seventh and eighth inning in close games this year. He has struck out 66 batters through 42 1/3 innings.
Quijada converted his lone save opportunity and has been used in matchup situations this season. He has given up six earned runs in 13 1/3 innings over 15 relief appearances.
Vallimont was the Marlins’ No. 23 overall prospect drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB draft and went 6-7 with a 3.16 ERA and 122 strikeouts to 37 walks in 105 1/3 innings between Class A Clinton, Iowa and Class A-Advanced Jupiter this year. He was a Midwest League All-Star during the first half of the minor-league season before being promoted to Jupiter.
Diaz, 22, is a lefty-hitting first baseman from the Dominican Republic who ranked as the Twins’ No. 30 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. He is hitting .297 with 19 home runs, 27 doubles and 61 RBI between Class A-Advanced and Double A this season. Diaz will start with the Marlins’ Double A affiliate, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
“This wasn’t something that we took lightly,” Hill said. “Obviously, a lot of experienced, talented people evaluated the player, evaluated his abilities and we feel like this is an advanced bat with power, above average defender at first base. Someone that we’ll be looking to help this team for many years to come.”
This isn’t the last time Romo will see Marlins Park this season, though. The Marlins host the Twins for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday.
“Go figure,” Romo said. “The big league life, here we go. This is fun.”
The MLB trade deadline is 4 p.m. Wednesday
“We won’t stop looking at opportunities to improve the organization,” Hill said. “We have our guys here and we’ll continue to work the phones and talk to our peers to see if there’s opportunities for us to get better.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2019 at 9:01 PM.
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