Gallagher: Blue Jays have decisions to make on Pop, Romano

Toronto Blue Jays relievers Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) and Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) will both be eligible for arbitration after the season.

September 7, 2024

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

After a few seasons of getting paid pre-arbitration money, Zach Pop of the Blue Jays might be moving up in the world this off season.

Doing some research of his service time, it was confirmed to me by the MLBPA that the reliever will qualify for Super 2 arbitration status and that he will fall short of the traditional three-year plateau by one day.

Thing is, will the Brampton, Ont., native be tendered a contract by the Jays for 2025?

The Jays could easily just non-tender him and let him be a free agent instead of paying him the extra money he would get, realizing he hasn't been that effective in 2023-2024.

Pop is earning $766,000 this season and I'm estimating he might get a deal for around $1-million if he went to arbitration.

In each of the last two seasons, Pop's ERA has been over 6.00 following time with the Miami Marlins when he was a pretty decent reliever. He was also solid with the Jays when he pitched for them in 2022.

As I reported on social media earlier this week, the Jays also have to decide if they will tender a contract to Pop's fellow Canadian Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.), who has been sidelined most of the season due to inflammation in his right elbow.

Will the Jays take a chance on their closer when they are not sure he will be ready for the start of the 2025 season? He's earning $7.75-million this season and could command more than $8-million in a new deal, even though he has appeared in only 15 games this season.

According to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Jays could try to lower his salary by as much as 20% or even a smaller percentage because he hasn't pitched much this season. I wonder if the Romano camp would be receptive to a reduced salary of $7 million.

Next year will be Romano's age-32 season so he's not getting any younger. The Jays will do a lot of thinking before tendering him a contract.