McAdam: Red Sox announce Opening Day roster, Eduardo Rodriguez suffers setback

The announcement of the Red Sox' Opening Day roster came with a few surprises and the additional news of a step backward for someone who wasn't even a part of it.

Eduardo Rodriguez, who had already been ruled out after contracting COVID-19 earlier this month, has experienced a setback from the virus and has been shut down from all baseball activities by the team.

"As with all of our players who have tested positive for COVID, we have continued to monitor them with our medical staff,'' said manager Ron Roenicke, "and in Eddie's case, they've discovered some minor complications with him. Because of it, we're taking everything very seriously in this matter, we're going to shut Eddie down from baseball activities for a period of time.

"We're going to re-evaluate where he's at in a week to see where he's at. Like I said, it's a mild case, but it's still serious enough to where we feel to the right thing for our players, to take of him, that this is a decision that Chaim (Bloom) and his crew and all of the doctors have come up with. So obviously, it backs him off from being active and being on the field. It's disappointing to him, obviously. He came in here after going through this sickness and felt like he was going to be a full-go and now he's set back.''

Roenicke added that Rodriguez hadn't again tested positive and that "he feels OK.'' But he hinted that Rodriguez was dealing with extreme fatigue after throwing two bullpens in the last week.

Asked if he was confident that Rodriguez will pitch this season, Roenicke said: "Yes, I am. I think everybody is.''

Still, it's clear that Rodriguez is going to miss at least a few weeks of a season that is only a little more than two months in length.

"He knows that this is the right thing to do,'' said Roenicke. "But he also knows that the season is a lot shorter and his time for making an impact on this team is going to be shorter. It's not going to be what he had hoped for.''

Beyond Rodriguez, the Sox revealed their 30-man Opening Day Roster:

STARTERS (3): Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, Ryan Weber.

RELIEVERS (12): Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Colten Brewer, Austin Brice, Dylan Covey, Matt Hall, Heath Hembree, Josh Osich, Jeffrey Springs, Phillips Valdez, Marcus Walden, Brandon Workman.

CATCHERS (3): Christian Vazquez, Kevin Plawecki, Jonathan Lucroy.

INFIELDERS (7): Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Jose Peraza, Michael Chavis, Tzu-Wei Lin, Jonathan Arauz, Mitch Moreland.

OUTFIELDERS (5): Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Alex Verdugo, Kevin Pillar, J.D. Martinez.

"The pitching staff was probably the toughest,'' said Roenicke. "(Getting) the position players was a little easier. Arauz was probably (the toughest), being a Rule 5, do you carry him? But he has showed not only progress since the first spring training but being a really good player. His tools -- good hands, good footwork, good arm, accurate, switch-hitter, more power than we thought -- (convinced us).''

Roenicke acknowledged the Red Sox still haven't fully planned out the rotation. After Eovaldi, Perez and Weber, the Sox plan to use an opener tandem in the fourth spot and a starter-to-be-named in the fifth.

"It depends on the matchups and who's being used,'' said Roenicke. "So I can't tell you that a certain guy is going to be the opener and a certain guy is going to be the guy who's going to come in for him because it depends on what happens in the first three games. We know what we would like to do and we have a plan for that. But if the games don't go so well in the first three, we might have to use players we had planned for (games) four and five.

"So that's going to continue to change all the time.''

BSJ ANALYSIS



Among position players, it was evident the organization liked Arauz and didn't want to give him up by failing to put him on the major league roster. Lin was out of options and could have been lost on a waiver claim, and the Sox like his defense, his versatility and think he offers some speed off the bench.

Some whispers within the organization in the last week had Lucroy in potential jeopardy, but his past history with Roenicke (the two were together for four seasons in Milwaukee) likely proved a tipping point in his favor.

The pitching staff had a few surprises, not the least of which was the exclusion of Brian Johnson, who was seemingly penciled in as the No. 4 starter. But Johnson was outrighted last fall and not part of the 40-man roster, and that played at least a small role.

Similarly, Godley's excellent three innings in Wednesday night's rain-shortened exhibition game, along with his track record (15-game winner in 2018), looked to be enough for him to make the cut. Instead, he'll be part of the team's extended Player Pool and, like Johnson, will likely get his shot eventually.

"This gives us at least two or three starters in our taxi squad that we feel comfortable enough with, that if something goes wrong, can we bring these guys back and will they be stretched out?'' said Roenicke. "That's important. I know they're disappointed, but it's important to have guys down there stretched out. ... We have to make sure that we have those kinds of arms that are backups for us because we know we're not going to get through of all this without making some changes.''

Figure that Hall will be playing a significant role, one way or the other, in the beginning. Of all the arms the Red Sox imported in the offseason, he was the most impressive -- both in spring training and again in intrasquad games in Summer Camp.

He could either slide into the fifth spot as a starter or supply the "bulk'' innings in the opener tandem. Brewer remains a strong candidate to serve as the actual opener.

As always, this is subject to change and never more so than in a season like this one.

"I think this is probably (the group) we're going to open with (Friday),'' said Roenicke. "But I do foresee some changes that probably could happen in the first few days. I think there's going to be quite a bit of movement this year and not just with us, but with everybody.''