McAdam: Eduardo Rodriguez shut down for the remainder of 2020 season

Desperate for starting pitching reinforcements, the Red Sox had hoped to get Eduardo Rodriguez back later this month to inject a much-needed boost to their rotation.

Now, they know that won't be happening.

Rodriguez, who was diagnosed with a mild case of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) in the aftermath of contracting COVID-19, was shutdown for the rest of the 2020 season Saturday.

"As we've continued to monitor it, it has not resolved, it's still there,'' said chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom of the myocarditis. "So while we remain very optimistic that he's going to be make a full recovery -- we're confident of that; the severity of this is mild (and) his heart is functioning normally -- due to the fact that it is persistent and the amount of care we need to take with this and the time left in the season, he's not going to be able to come back and pitch this year.

"So we're going to shut him down for the season. Again, we're confident that he's going to make a full recovery and his long-term prognosis is excellent. The fact of the matter is there just isn't enough time left in the season to safely ramp him back up to  pitching.''

The news is a big blow for a Red Sox team that has compiled a 6.21 ERA through the first eight games of the season. Rodriguez becomes the fourth starter from last year's rotation to be absent from the Sox in 2020. David Price was traded with Mookie Betts to the Dodgers; Rick Porcello left to sign a one-year deal with the New York Mets; and Chris Sale is lost for the year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

"Obviously, it's unfortunate,'' ackowledged Bloom. "It's not something that any of us are happy about it, least of all Eduardo. But we need to make sure we're taking care of him. This is not something to mess around with so we're shutting him down. We're very fortunate that this is a mild case.

"But while the heart is affected like this, we just can't responsibly put any cardio-vascular load on him. Once it resolves, we'll be able to progress him back. As I said, this case is mild. His heart is functioning normally. There are some cases (post-COVID-19) where that doesn't happen. But this is a mild case. We just can't do anything until it resolves.''

BSJ ANALYSIS



The loss of Rodriguez leaves a gaping hole in the rotation. Nathan Eovaldi has pitched well in both of his starts, and Martin Perez took great strides in his second outing earlier this week against the Mets.

But Ryan Weber has been unable to get out of the fourth inning in either of two starts while allowing 17 baserunners in just seven innings, including four homers. In the other two spots, the Sox are utilizing an opener for one and are taking a look at Zack Godley for the other.

That's not much to inspire confidence.

"Even had (Rodriguez) been cleared, we know it would still take some time to build him up,'' Bloom pointed out. "In the short-term, it doesn't change anything. Obviously, when you look our over the course of the season, it certainly makes the mountain higher. So we have been and will continue to monitor the market and make sure we're not walking by an opportunity to improve our group.''

Bloom seemed to be preaching patience with the likes of Weber, Godley and Matt Hall, who performed poorly in his first crack at the rotation.

"I think we have to remember that while the season is short, that we're just dealing with a small chunk of the season, he said, "and a lot of these guys have only pitched once or twice. And even though that represents a much larger percentage of the (pandemic-shortened) season, it doesn't mean that that one or two outings tell us more about the player than they would in a 162 game season.

"So we don't want to be complacent, but we also don't want to rush to judgment. Sometimes we need to remember that the worst thing you can do with a player is to cut off that opportunity as they might be starting to figure some things out. Sometimes the signs of progress might not be visible in the results and sometimes they are. We're just going to have to keep monitoring as we go forward and the more opportunities we give these guys, the more we'll be able to see who starts stepping up.''

This year's trade deadline is almost a month away (Aug. 31), but it's difficult to imagine the Red Sox sacrificing much for such a short-term gain. Unless the Sox can land a pitcher who can help them past 2020, don't look for them to add for the sake of adding.

"We want to compete, we want to win right now,'' Bloom said. "But consistent with everything I've said since the day I got here, as much as want to win right now, we need to be mindful of the future. We can't do it at the expense of everything that comes after 2020. We certainly want to win this year, but we have to make sure that we're setting ourselves up really well for the long-term.''