Angels' Jordan Romano: Still in mix for save chances

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Romano is one of several Angels relievers who could factor into the closer mix during the early part of the regular season, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports.

Robert Stephenson (shoulder) had at one point been considered a favorite for save opportunities, but he recently had a setback and is likely to open the campaign on the injured list. Ben Joyce (shoulder) probably has the most closer-like stuff of anyone in the team's bullpen, but he's also expected to begin on the IL. That leaves a trio of veteran relievers -- Romano, Kirby Yates and Drew Pomeranz -- in the running for early save opportunities. Yates may be the slight favorite for the closer role, but manager Kurt Suzuki said Monday that the team hasn't yet made a decision in that regard and also indicated that the Angels may "just use the three high-leverage guys and mix and match." Romano has 133 career regular-season saves and has looked good this spring with four scoreless innings and a 3:0 K:BB over four outings, but he is coming off a disastrous 2025 campaign during which he posted an 8.23 ERA and 1.45 WHIP across 42.2 innings spanning 49 regular-season appearances with Philadelphia. The right-hander's velocity has also been down about 1.5 mph this spring, and he's stated that he'd like to work his way back up to his usual velocity before the start of the campaign.