McAdam: Rodriguez scratched from Opening Day start with "dead arm,'' Eovaldi gets the call

With the start of the 2021 regular season less than a week away, the Red Sox already have their first hiccup.

Eduardo Rodriguez, who had been tabbed as the team's scheduled starting pitcher for their April 1 opener against the Baltimore Orioles, was scratched from that assignment Friday morning due what manager Alex Cora termed "a dead arm.''

Nathan Eovaldi, who had the assignment last year when Rodriguez was sidelined by COVID-19, will again start the opener for the Sox.

The announcement comes days after Rodriguez was pulled after just two innings in his most recent start, finishing his work for the day with another two innings in the bullpen. At the time, the Red Sox downplayed the move, insisting that Rodriguez was simply not feeling 100 percent.

"The last one wasn't a great one as far as his stuff and his body,'' said Cora. "We've been very straightforward with him. His body's going to dictate what we're going to do with him. His schedule got pushed back. He didn't throw (a between-start) bullpen. He was supposed to throw a bullpen two days ago and he didn't throw it. He played catch (Thursday) and felt fine.

"With the schedule the way it is, he won't be able to post on Thursday. We'll see how it plays out when he gets back to the mound. Nate is going to start Opening Day; he's in line to do that. There's no problem with that. The way he presented to him and to the pitching staff, especially in a season with a lot of unknowns, their bodies are going to let us know how we treat them. Eddie was honest about it. We've been talking the last few days and that's the decision we made.''

Cora emphasized that Rodriguez's issues are not at all related to his COVID-19 diagnosis last year, nor the resulting case of myocarditis which followed as a side effect.

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Cora insisted that this setback isn't considered serious and suggested the move was mostly precautionary

"He just didn't feel as strong as the previous outing,'' said Cora, again referencing the start by Rodriguez earlier this week. "Arm-wise, shoulder ... there's nothing specific there. He pushed hard (to pitch the opener), but I think the smart thing from our end and from my end is to play it smart. Take the decision (away) from the player. We made the decision for him. As far as the schedule, it doesn't add up.

"He played catch (Thursday) ... he hasn't thrown a bullpen. So you start adding days, and you run out of days.''

It's unclear whether Rodriguez will start the season on the Injured List. With an off-day on the second day of the season, he could still take a turn in the rotation the first time through, with the Sox juggling their remaining starters.

"We're going to wait for him to show up today and see how he feels after playing catch (Thursday),'' said Cora. "He felt good. The next step is to throw a bullpen. When he throws a bullpen, then we'll address his situation again. We'll have more (Saturday). We're kind of rescheduling everything. We're going over plans. We had it all set up, but now we have to sit down and go over our situation, where we are (in terms of days) and make a decision.''

The Red Sox spent the offseason improving their starting pitching depth, signing free agent Garrett Richards, bringing back Martin Perez, and adding veteran swing-man Matt Andriese, affording them a deeper, more experienced staff to deal with the inevitable injuries that crop up over a long season.

But even before the end of spring training, the Red Sox are already testing that depth.

And Rodriguez's sudden availability is a pointed reminder of how uncertain the 2021 season will be for Sox pitchers, all of whom will be asked to make big jumps in workload from last year's truncated schedule.

That's doubly true for Rodriguez, of course, who didn't pitch at all last year and hints at the pitfalls that lie ahead -- for Rodriguez, yes, but for all the starters who will go from making a dozen starts to, in perfect world, a more typical 30-start season.

In attempting to downplay the seriousness of the setback, Cora pointed out that more attention will be paid to Rodriguez's absence precisely because it's the first week of the season and the pageantry associated with the season opener.

"But if this happens during the season, it's not a big deal,'' said Cora. "You skip one guy, you move the other one and then you make decisions based on your schedule and where they're at. But because everything was so structured up until now, we have to scramble a little bit.''

That's the "glass half-full'' way of looking at this. A more sober analysis might include the realization that the Sox are already being forced to re-arrange their regular season rotation even before they break camp in Fort Myers. And it's not unfair to ask: is this a preview of coming attractions -- for Rodriguez and everyone else on the staff?

For now, though, it appears to be a mere inconvenience and a personal disappointment for Rodriguez, who had been eager to put last year behind him.

"It sucks for him,'' acknowledged Cora, "because going into '20, he was supposed to be the Opening Day start and going into '21, we announced it and now he's not (pitching). But like I told him yesterday, 'The way you throw the ball, the way your career is going, at one point in your career, you will be an Opening Day starter.' ''

But, for the second straight season, not this year.