Jake has very complicated relationships with almost all of the men he spends time with. He obviously likes or liked all of them, or else he wouldn't have hung out with them in the first place. He even seems not to mind Cohn in the beginning. However, Jake's relationship with Brett is always the most important one to him, and it colors all the others in time. Since he's narrating a story well after the events have taken place, that means that everything we get about Jake's male friends is skewed by their relationships with Brett.
The only major male character in the book who seems uninterested in Brett is Bill. Coincidentally, he is also the character who is arguably shown in the best light in the novel, with Jake describing him as consistently intelligent and good-hearted. This can show one of two things: either Bill wasn't interested in Brett because he was so intelligent (and saw she was trouble) or such a good guy ( and knew it would hurt Jake), or the reason he is portrayed so positively is just because he isn't interested in Brett. Compare Bill to the men who are interested in Brett: the Count, while likable,is fat, old, servile, and ridiculous; Mike is an assertive, bankrupt drunk; and of course, Cohn is a pathetic blowhard who takes himself and everyone around him far too seriously, and who Brett never cared that much about anyways. It might be that Jake didn't consciously make Bill better than he is, just that he wanted so badly to show all of Brett's suitors in a terrible light that he made Jake seem better by comparison. The inverse relationship between pursuing Brett and coming off favorably in Jake's novel seems pretty clear cut. But what about Romero?
From the start, Romero is described as young, humble, talented, and beautiful. Despite being the one who actually takes Brett away from Jake, Jake has nothing but good words for him, and even helps set him up with Brett. There's been a lot of discussion about why Romero is so acceptable to Jake where the other men aren't. One idea is that Jake approves of his talent and beauty, and so judges him worthy of Brett, unlike Cohn. In fact, he could even be seen as Jake's "surrogate," someone who Jake thinks of as the closest thing to getting to be with Brett himself. However, there's also another possibility: Jake likes Romero, not because he considers him close enough to be a surrogate, but because the two men are so different. Cohn and Jake share many similarities; both are educated American writers, both live in Paris, they have roughly the same circle of friends, they play the same sports, they're the same age, and so on. Cohn doesn't cut it because despite all his similarites with Jake, he has an irritating personality and an anachronistic way of looking at the world. By comparison, Romero's background is very different. Romero is much younger than Jake, is described as looking both better and very different than Jake, and is extremely talented at a sport that Jake loves but has only ever been an observer of. As a result, he lumps Romero in with his extremely positive idea of Spain, whereas Cohn comes from a more familiar setting.
Because Romero is so different, Jake doesn't judge him by his personality. He just judges him by his background. With Cohn, it's the opposite. Since Cohn's background is so similar to his own, Jake is much better able to relate to and notice his personality, and he doesn't like what he sees. When he talks to Cohn, he just sees a worse Jake; and if normal Jake isn't able to be with Brett, then shitty-Jake-but-with-working-equipment definitely shouldn't be able to. By contrast, Romero is an exotic entity, and one who Jake barely knows. As far as Jake is concerned,there's no point comparing himself to a young Spanish bull fighter; the personality isn't the part that interests him. But in fact, once Brett gets to know him better, Romero doesn't actually seem to be all that different from Cohn. He wants Brett to look more traditionally feminine and commit to him; he even tries to fight Cohn for her honor after Cohn is done beating him up. Eventually, Brett realizes her mistake and comes back to Jake, almost the only person she knows with a personality she actually likes.
An interesting point here about Jake: you could also make the argument that by setting Brett up with Romero, he was getting some sort of wish fulfillment out of the deal. You're right, in many ways Cohn and Jake are similar, and Jake shies away from those similarities. He seems to shun Cohn off like the bad parts of himself. Romero, on the other hand, is like what Jake dreams he could be like. In a different world, perhaps, Jake could be a Romero-figure, and take Brett in the way Romero took her. Perhaps Jake set them up together because it could allow him to visualize some dream of being with Brett himself, in the best way, in contrast to Cohn being with Brett in the worst way.
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