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| Sergio Romo of the San Francisco Giants. Photo credit MLB |
Sergio Romo can make the claim as literally having a perfect start to his season . The numbers bear that out as he is a perfect 10 for 10 when it comes to save opportunities. He also boasts a miniscule 1.88 ERA along with a 12/3 strikeout to walk ratio, which is a sensational ratio. From those numbers there is good reason that the San Francisco Giants want to extend his contract and lock him in with the team for the foreseeable future. Those talks for an extension of Romo’s contract have been postponed until presumably the offseason. Both sides agreed that they did not want the talks to interrupt Romo or the team’s focus from the games.
by Michael Hanley
The way Romo has started this season, he is on his way to the biggest payday of his career. When you consider the closers in today’s game, he is right up there with the best of them. In the major leagues you always see those closers who have to constantly have to labor through every save opportunity they get and wear themselves down since they are unable to put hitters away. Sergio Romo is the polar opposite of that, thankfully for the Giants. His efficiency with his various pitches is something to marvel at. Rarely does he get into long battles with the batters he has to get through, which in turn helps him stay fresher as he goes through this season. The many speeds at which he can pitch at also is key to him baffling hitters at the plate. He has a wide range of mph from his offspeed stuff to his fastball, which can be hard to get a good read on if you're the opposition and make it even more difficult to find a pitch to drive to the outfield off him.
Now, the type of deal that Romo could command is one right at the top of the free agent market should he complete what is on track to be a career year.Though the free agent market for closers will not just be him solo in the offseason.It will be filled with legimate, good closers like K-Rod, LaTroy Hawkins, Jason Grilli who also could state a claim at getting a moderate to high end contract. If those closers and others have strong years with their respective teams, that could take away a little value from Romo’s new contract, but that will be something that has to play out over the rest of this season.
The Giants are a franchise that has had a long history of taking care of their own players and rewarding them with fair and worthwhile contracts. Great example of that is with the core group of players they have signed for long terms deals on this team alone. Players such as Angel Pagan, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Tim Lincecum are just some of the players that are locked in for the long term in San Francisco.
This history will not change with Romo. San Francisco recognizes the progress that he has made under their guidance since coming up to the big club in the 2009 season. Going from a very solid setup man to now sliding over to a very difficult and pressure packed position of being a closer. It was made even more difficult having to follow the very popular and beloved closer in Brian Wilson. To Romo’s credit though he has made the transition seamless and solidified the backend of a very strong San Francisco bullpen. In his first season as the full time closer, Sergio Romo made quite the impression. He finished the 2013 season with going 5-8, converting 38 of 43 save opportunities and sporting a 2.54 ERA on a Giants team that slumped to a 76-86 record that season.
There's no question that once the offseason arrives and the two sides sit down to talk about a contract extension, common ground will be found and Romo will remain as the closer for the Giants for years to come. When a closer of Romo’s elite capabilities comes along, they are taken care of and held onto, Giants will do just that with Sergio Romo.
