Major League Baseball

San Francisco Giants: Signing with Dodgers Will Not Tarnish Sergio Romo's Legacy

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:12 p.m. ET

Fansided, Michael Saltzman/FanSided via Around the Foghorn

Sergio Romo has signed a contract with the enemy. That is what many San Francisco Giants fans believe as Romo has agreed to a one year contract with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports.

Former San Francisco Giants World Series champions Juan Uribe and Brian Wilson also took a trip to the dark side by signing contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers over returning to San Francisco in recent years.

Similar to Romo this season, Wilson wasn’t offered a guaranteed deal from the Giants after 2012. Also similar to Romo, Wilson struggled at the end of his Giants tenure. However, when you look at the career Romo had in San Francisco, it is hard to imagine fans being mad at “El Mechon.”

Romo is one of nine Giants to win three championship rings since 2010. Pitchers Jeremy Affeldt, Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Santiago Casilla, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez and Romo along with catcher Buster Posey and third baseman Pablo Sandoval. These nine players were all critical to the success of the Giants in the postseason. Romo, along with the other members of the Giants “Core Four” were elite in those playoff series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

History will look back on these nine and realize how special this era of Giants baseball was. The only other time the Giants won even two World Series in a 10 year span was when they won back-to-back World Series championships in 1921 and 1922. The last time the team won three pennants in that short a span was when they won the National League pennant in 1933, 1936 and 1937.

These teams will live on forever. Six of the nine players, however, are now no longer with the team, with Lopez also possibly leaving the team this offseason. With only Posey and Bumgarner remaining, it is important to look back at these seven players and realize what we have lost.

When Sandoval left the Giants for the Boston Red Sox after the 2014 season, many fans were upset with how he left and things he said on his way out. Now that Romo has chosen the villains, there are many fans as upset with his choice as the one Sandoval made.

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However, as we look at Romo’s options, it was clear that he took the best deal for him and his family. He took less money to stay on the West Coast and be closer to his family. It is hard to argue with a decision like that. Also, when you grow up rooting for the Dodgers like Romo did, it is hard to blame him.

If Giants fans could imagine their son being drafted by the Dodgers in the 28th round and playing nine major league seasons for Los Angeles. Then, after giving everything he had for the fans of LA, he is given an opportunity to come home to his childhood team and possibly finish his career where he fell in love with the game — that sounds like a pretty special opportunity that would be hard to pass up.

Romo’s career will live forever in San Francisco Giants history, and his legacy was permanently cemented when he struck out triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera to win the 2012 World Series.

Sergio Romo’s Giants career: nine seasons, 2.58 ERA, 84 saves, three rings, one of the ballsiest pitches you’ll ever see: pic.twitter.com/n7bS3PrIeV

— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) February 4, 2017