Reports: Romero to Miss Most or All of Spring Training

[Nick Nelson]

Disappointing news today via LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune: The Twins are anticipating that Fernando Romero will miss most or all of spring training as his visa issues persist. 

 

"Romero has to resubmit documents to obtain a work visa to enter the country, a process that's expected to take weeks," Neal writes. "Therefore, the club is preparing for the possibility that Romero will not be part of the major league camp."

 

This is a huge setback for the 25-year-old Romero, who could've easily won a spot in the bullpen with a strong spring. He's all but certain to open in Triple-A now. He's facing a critical opportunity with the Twins searching for bullpen firepower to replace Graterol.

 

It's truly hard to understand how these kinds of things can happen with so much on the line. Alas, Romero will have some ground to make up once he gets here. But it's worth keeping in mind Sano was also 25 a year ago when he showed up at camp with a seemingly self-sabotaging heel laceration. After a late start, he got right back to where he and the Twins needed him to be. Hopefully something similar happens here.

 

What are your thoughts on this development?

 

 

 

[Matthew Lenz]

If I’m understanding correctly he dropped the ball on this? If so, extremely disappointing.

 

I think the difference between him and Sano was that Sano had an open spot when he became healthy. Fernando needed this spring to compete for a spot.

[Doctor Gast]

I don`t think he necessarily drop the ball. Maybe it`s like Squirrel said, when he came here for Twins Fest on a tourist visa it short circuited the P1 process. You would have thought he would have been advised by the Twins or immigration if that was the problem. Any way no one can fault him for wanting to be here for Twins Fest 

[jkcarew]

I’m guessing hundreds of Dominican players...including several Twins...have participated in their team’s winter tour, and yet managed to get to spring training before camp broke.

[stringer bell]

This would be much more concerning if Romero didn’t have an option remaining. Hopefully, he can thrive wherever he ends up after Spring Training, and be an asset for the Twins sometime this season.

[jorgenswest]

 

If I’m understanding correctly he dropped the ball on this? If so, extremely disappointing.

I think the difference between him and Sano was that Sano had an open spot when he became healthy. Fernando needed this spring to compete for a spot.

 

Is your understanding based on your reading of Neal's report? I don't see anything in there that would lead me to understand that Romero dropped the ball.

[nicksaviking]

If Romero somehow screwed up, it’s still not on him. There is zero reason the Twins shouldn’t be handling the entirety of the process. Additionally, there is zero reason the immigration/visa process shouldn’t be any more of an inconvenience these days than a snafu at the DMV. This should be an hour process, not weeks, months or years.

[Matthew Lenz]

Is your understanding based on your reading of Neal's report? I don't see anything in there that would lead me to understand that Romero dropped the ball.

Love Lavelle but don’t give my money to the STrib to support clowns like Glen Taylor and Patrick Reusse. Anyway, it says above he needs to resubmit some documents...so it’s my understanding that these documents should have been submitted earlier?

[Diesel]

Lavelle just stated it wasn’t an issue with the visa but with customs....

[Nick Nelson]

Updates from LaVelle:

 

 

[Matthew Lenz]

Updates from LaVelle:

 

https://twitter.com/LaVelleNeal/status/1231374797877186561

 

https://twitter.com/LaVelleNeal/status/1231375174743793666

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the update. I guess my question/comment is that hundreds of players need to go through customs and don’t have an issue, so my mind thinks Romero did something, likely unintentional, that created the issue. Admittedly, that is probably not fair.

[operation mindcrime]

Ffs!

[RaymondLuxuryYacht]

 

Updates from LaVelle:

 

 

Can we still blame the Twins?

[bobs]

Fortunately plenty of depth in bullpen, so he can go to AAA and try to earn another shot.

[Blackjack]

How does something like this happen?? He's been back and forth many times, shouldn't getting a visa be automatic by now?? Can someone explain the whole visa process??

[DocBauer]

Oh so tempted to make a Manfred joke here and blame him.

 

But seriously, and not laying blame anywhere or on anyone because we have no clue what happened or what is going on, but isn't this just ridiculous? Literally each and every year, hundreds of Latin ballplayers go this process and yet we constantly come across bizarre situations like this. I'm sure a mistake or two will happen here and there that requires a simple correction, but a multi billion dollar industry doesn't have people in place to just dot a few "i's" or cross a few "t's" to make sure everything is in place ahead of time?

 

We're not talking about circumventing the Berlin Wall here are we? Or are we?

 

Is there so much unrest and incompetence politically that some players have no issues but others do? Are there under the table dealings we don't know about? Or is there really that poor of communication and competence between player and organization? I really don't know. But if it IS the last question asked, then shame on the Twins and MLB for not having a better handle on this after so many years.

[akmanak]

I will say it again. Cut him and move on. He obviously didn't do his DD and it shows.

[Doctor Gast]

This ST I had great expectancy. Donaldson would inspire young prospects, Sano masters 1B, Rosario gets serious on his defense, Astudillo finds plate discipline & Wes has a full ST to work his magic. I don`t know how much input Wes had w/ Romero last year but this ST I was hoping he would have valuable impact on him. I haven`t given up on Romero because he has a lot of potential but this definitely is a set back of attaining his goals.

[Rosterman]

He got here for TwinsFest. He is a major league player drawing a split contract (or at least a 40-man contract). Made it to Twinsfest, right? Sometimes you shake your head.

 

[bird]

This just in: Fernando stopped at Bachmans on his way to the airport and bought a lovely indoor plant. It was a mum. For his Mum. She will not be enjoying this indoor plant. Fernando will not be enjoying spring training. It wasn't his fault. It was a plant.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

I will say it again. Cut him and move on. He obviously didn't do his DD and it shows.

So by this standard you agree Pineda should not have been re-signed?

[DannySD]

Maybe we can wait to bash him since we don't know what happened? Lots of people (and pro baseball players) have visa and customs issues. It's never a done deal, especially for the young and brown, and it's a heavily prevalent ongoing discussion among people who are not US citizens. Part of life in 'Merica. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

If Romero somehow screwed up, it’s still not on him. There is zero reason the Twins shouldn’t be handling the entirety of the process. Additionally, there is zero reason the immigration/visa process shouldn’t be any more of an inconvenience these days than a snafu at the DMV. This should be an hour process, not weeks, months or years.

I agree with the first part... The team should be handling this. Having done international travel for my employer before, I can attest that my only role in the visa process was signing some papers and sending scanned pictures of the required documents... then again, I did get deported once in spite of that, so there's that...

 

As for the second part, you're dealing with a nation's government... it's really not as simple as going to the DMV. 

 

Seems to me though that these visa problems often end up with the discovery that the player is older than previously though... I hope that isn't the case here. 

[Squirrel]

I agree with the first part... The team should be handling this. Having done international travel for my employer before, I can attest that my only role in the visa process was signing some papers and sending scanned pictures of the required documents... then again, I did get deported once in spite of that, so there's that...

 

As for the second part, you're dealing with a nation's government... it's really not as simple as going to the DMV. 

 

Seems to me though that these visa problems often end up with the discovery that the player is older than previously though... I hope that isn't the case here.

 

It could be a number of things, even something innocuous. There are so many things that you cannot enter with ... and that list, in the years I’ve been touring internationally, has gotten longer and changed quite a bit. It is getting way more complicated and I could see how something got missed or went awry without any fault to either the Twins or Romero. I mean, it could even be a typo on his documents that resulted in an unexplained discrepancy. But, we don’t know what the hold up was that ultimately forced him home to go through the entire visa process all over again

[Doctor Wu]

No problem with the visa but it was a customs problem?! That implies he was trying to bring/smuggle in something he shouldn't have. Not saying that's the case, but once you have gotten your visa, clearing customs should be a breeze unless the customs officer suspects something's not quite kosher.

[big dog]

Maybe he was trying to bring in something illegal, like a bag of oranges. Customs hates that.  And so does the beagle that trots around people at the baggage carousel before the entrance to Customs.