If Sal (or his supposed source, doesn't matter) was a legit leaker, there would have been no reason to make that assumption and put their cards on it. It was a failed attempt at getting credibility, something that a Real Leaker has no need for, but a Fake Leaker lives and dies on. Sal Romano is a fake and a sham.
I strongly suspect that what happened was that he ran across some legitimate information around E3, resulting in the first list (which, notably, he never even came out with it as a "leak" until it was effectively confirmed). After that he rode the coattails of his real info by making up fake stuff - every character he has listed since the original list, with the exception of the Chorus Kids, has been an obvious choice, which was deliberate so that he could seem legit for as long as possible.
Chrom's deconfirmed, and deconfirmed hard. Sal's second list is fake, and nothing short of the confirmation of the Chorus Kids will convince me otherwise.
And I'd bet that if we get a Rhythm Heaven rep it will be a monkey.