Eduardo Rodriguez Slips On The Mound Before His Start, Says It Didn't Impact His Poor Outing, Promptly Placed On The Disabled List
Last night:
Less than 24 hours later:
Listen. Eduardo. I like you. Tell me you don’t like my firm, tell me you don’t like my idea, tell me you don’t like my fuckin’ neck tie, but don’t tell me that slipping on the mound when you were warming up in the bullpen last night had nothing to do with you getting rocked for seven earned runs and four homers.
And for everyone who was saying that I was making excuses for Eduardo Rodriguez, take a lap. It was clear as day that the dude was hurt. I wish I ripped that NESN video where they were showing the side-by-side of last night and a previous start because it was obvious that he wasn’t able to finish his pitches. All the proof that you needed was right there. That, and the fact that Rodriguez has been so good all year; it makes no sense for him to just get his dick kicked in like that and the reasoning be, “Whoops! Had a random shit start! Nothing to see here, even though I clearly injured myself before the game!”
I had written this morning that I admired that Rodriguez wouldn’t use slipping in the bullpen as an excuse for his poor outing — whether he was actually hurt and didn’t use that as an excuse or he wasn’t hurt at all and could’ve used that as a free pass but didn’t — but now that I think of it, that was a pretty bad idea to not speak up. I mean, don’t get me wrong — I totally appreciate that he tried to pitch through it for the betterment of the team, but it clearly didn’t benefit the team. Sort of. It did save the Red Sox from having to throw a bullpen game and burn a handful of their relievers, but at what cost? Perhaps the cost of their second best starting pitcher, at least statistically, for an undetermined amount of time.
Rodriguez has to realize that while, yes, had David Price started the season healthy and in the rotation, Rodriguez likely would’ve began the year with Pawtucket. However, that’s not how things played out and now he’s arguably the second best pitcher in the rotation and an incredibly important part of this team. I think it’s more than fair to speculate that going out there and pitching nearly six innings probably made his injury worse.
Would it have sucked to have burned the bullpen like that? Absolutely. Especially when you just began a four-game series against the Orioles, the team that’s right up your ass in the division standings, but what’s worse — burning your bullpen for a night and dealing with the short term ramifications of that, or losing your second best starter for AT LEAST ten days? I emphasize “at least”, because we’re no stranger to Rodriguez injuries, and they never take the minimum end of the spectrum to actually heal. So yeah, I am worried about a timetable for a return, especially since this is the same knee that he dislocated his kneecap on last year, which landed him on the disabled list for about two months.
The Red Sox have called up Brandon Workman to fill Rodriguez’s spot on the roster for now as an extra reliever, but I’m assuming that they’ll call up Brian Johnson to fill Rodriguez’s spot in the rotation once his turn comes up again.