Jordan Romano has become a free agent yet again.

The Los Angeles Angels released the Markham, Ont., native on Tuesday, per the club’s transaction log. His departure comes only a few days after he was designated for assignment on Sunday, ending his brief tenure after just 11 relief appearances.

Romano, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal as a free agent over the off-season, leaves the franchise after only logging eight innings, during which he posted an inflated 10.13 ERA along with a more reasonable 4.38 FIP and 14.3 per cent strikeout-minus-walk rate (K-BB%). He went 4-for-6 in save situations, with both of his blown save opportunities coming against the New York Yankees earlier this month — and in consecutive appearances.

Before that series in the Bronx, though, the 33-year-old reliever had enjoyed a quality start to the 2026 season following his year-long woes with the Philadelphia Phillies in ’25. Out of the gate, the right-hander tossed five scoreless, no-hit innings over his first six outings, inducing seven strikeouts and only two walks.

Even after getting thumped in New York, Romano rebounded relatively well during his next two appearances, striking out five of the nine batters he faced over two scoreless innings of three-hit, no-walk ball. The second of those two outings came against the Toronto Blue Jays, whom he spent six seasons with from 2019-24, registering 105 saves with a 2.90 ERA and 20.7 per cent K-BB%, worth 3.8 fWAR in 229.2 innings.

But it appears the final straw broke during Romano’s last appearance as an Angel against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, where he surrendered four runs (all earned) on three hits and one walk with zero strikeouts over just two-thirds of an inning.

Granted, a few underlying red flags may have also contributed to this rapid breakup, such as his career-low average fastball velocity of 94.5 m.p.h., and the Stuff+ grade on his slider (94) dropping below 100 (league average) for the first time in his career.

Even so, this still feels like a quick hook for the former Blue Jays and now Angels closer. His peak days certainly appear to be in the rearview mirror, especially in the two seasons since his ’24 campaign was cut short due to elbow surgery. However, he may yet prove to be a capable major-league reliever again — just not with the Angels anymore.

But perhaps another organization can help maximize this current version of Romano, whose arsenal now includes an occasional splitter — albeit that he’s thrown less than five per cent of the time thus far — in addition to his traditional fastball-slider duo.

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