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“There’s no animosity, it’s all good there,” said the Markham, Ont. native, third on the Jays’ all-time saves list, in a wide-ranging conversation that can be heard on the Dec. 19 episode of ”Deep Left Field,” the Star’s baseball podcast.

“The only thing was (that) before the tender deadline, I hadn’t (thrown) on the mound. So maybe that was something — they didn’t feel comfortable because I hadn’t been off the mound yet, they hadn’t seen me at full strength yet.”

The 31-year-old has been working his way back from an elbow injury that had been bothering him since the end of the 2023 season. He needed season-ending surgery this summer after posting a 6.59 ERA in 15 appearances, though he did convert eight of his nine save opportunities.

Back on the mound a couple of weeks after the Jays non-tendered him, unwilling to pay Romano what was expected to be an arbitration award of about $7.75 million (U.S.), the right-hander was throwing in the mid-90s.

“I threw a bullpen (on Dec. 6) and it went really well,” Romano said. “It was probably the hardest I’ve thrown in a first bullpen in my life. I was really pleased with it. We sent that data off to all the teams that were interested and it really picked up from there.”

Approximately a dozen teams reached out to Romano, most of them offering as much or more as the Jays declined to pay him. After a few days, he signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies that guarantees him $8.5 million with an extra $500,000 if he pitches at least 60 innings. So he can thank Jays general manager Ross Atkins for getting him a raise.

Romano might not be the closer with the defending NL East champions, who had eight different pitchers record a save last season, but his goal is to be the Phillies’ bullpen ace.

“I want to be the guy,” said the Blue Jays’ 2014 10th-round draft pick, “but it might not be the ninth. It could be the eighth. Big spot, need outs, this is the game on the line, I want to be the guy to stop it. I want to be the guy who gets us in the dugout, gets the hitters back out there and, honestly, I want to be the guy in the playoffs now, too.”

Romano didn’t get to be the guy in the playoffs for the Jays because, in the three playoff series he was a part of, they never took a lead into the ninth inning. He blew the save in a heartbreaking loss to Seattle that knocked the Jays out of the 2022 playoffs, allowing the three-run eighth-inning bloop double to J.P. Crawford on which Bo Bichette and George Springer collided.

Asked to weigh in on the job he feels the Jays front office has done in trying to build the club into a championship contender, Romano didn’t blame Atkins for the unsuccessful strategy of moving away from run creation in order to build baseball’s best defensive team. But he did agree that the 2021 Jays team, which missed the playoffs by one game, was the best his era.

“That team was really special,” he said. “I feel like when we got back to pc28����(at the end of July), we were the best team in baseball. We were so excited because we were ready to go that year and then (when they were eliminated after a win on the season’s final day) it was just like, ugh, had a great run, maybe next year.”

Many Jays fans have lost faith in the front office since that 2021 season, as the team has gotten worse year after year. It’s something the players have noticed, though they tend to be a bit more understanding.

“Obviously we talk about that stuff like, yeah, we could use this, we could use that,” Romano said, “but sometimes it’s not always as easy as ‘we want that guy, we should get him.’ There’s a lot that goes into it.”

One thing upon which Romano doesn’t equivocate, though, is Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s contract status.

“Vladdy deserves to get paid,” Romano said. “Ever since I started with him in high-A, that guy is the best hitter I’ve ever played with and it’s not even close. The stuff I’ve seen him do … like in Double-A, I would never miss a pitch that was thrown to him because I thought I’d see something I’d never see again.

“He loves it there. I think he needs to get what he deserves. He’s such an incredible player, such an incredible guy, too. The guy is an absolute rock star, a phenom. And he’s the coolest, most down to earth, been the same way since I met him. Vladdy is the man.”