Rodriguez feeling better
Fresh off losing his Opening Day start due to a case of dead arm, Eduardo Rodriguez returned to the mound Saturday morning and said he felt great.
A bullpen session at JetBlue Park allowed Rodriguez to throw 36 pitches and test his body for the first time after he felt tired in his last spring training start on Monday.
“I feel strong,” he said.
“I’ve got to see what the plan is tomorrow after I get here and see how I feel, but I feel really good today.”
Rodriguez looked sharp early in the spring after missing the entire 2020 season with myocarditis related to COVID-19. But when fatigue became an issue in his most recent start this week, the Sox weren’t taking any chances. They quickly removed him from Monday’s game after two innings and decided he’d miss his scheduled start on Thursday when the Sox begin the regular season against the Baltimore Orioles.
Rodriguez was supposed to be the Opening Day starter last year, too, but was replaced by Nathan Eovaldi due to myocarditis. He’s never started on Opening Day.
“It was hard for me because everyone wants to go out and do Opening Day one time in their career,” he said. “But I think we made the right decision. I don’t want to go out there and it doesn’t feel 100% and just throw the ball. I want to be pitching, not just throwing the ball. … I want to compete with everything I have.”
Rodriguez was sure there was nothing wrong physically. Many pitchers have a case of dead arm during spring training and tend to recover quite quickly.
“My shoulder, my elbow, everything is fine there,” he said. “I can throw the pitch right where I want it. Today was really good, threw all my pitches and feel strong again.”
Rodriguez was more concerned with the fact that he was throwing 90-91 mph instead of his usual 94-95 mph.
He had dominated in three previous spring starts, striking out 14 with no walks and just three earned runs in 11M innings before Monday’s start against the Rays.
“It was really good in the starts I made,” he said. “But in the last game I didn’t feel strong enough to keep going so we decided to just throw two innings and finish the rest of the work in the bullpen. After that we made a decision together that I’m not going to be available to go Opening Day.
“It’s happened in the past with my knee where I try to go out there and be like, ‘I can do it, I can do it,’ and lose the game because of that. I look bad on the mound because of that. So I’m going to go out there when I’m 100%, that’s the decision we made together. I want to go out there and compete and not think ‘oh my shoulder’ or miss my spots.”
Manager Alex Cora said it was a “big day” for Rodriguez on Saturday and the team needs to see how he reacts on Sunday before figuring out the next step.
Panda makes Braves
Pablo Sandoval isn’t giving up.
The Atlanta Braves announced that the former Red Sox third baseman made the Braves’ Opening Day roster. Sandoval, 34, was signed to a minor league deal after joining the Braves roster late last season. He got four postseason at-bats with them and was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
Including his final season in Boston in 2017, Sandoval has hit just .243 with 33 homers in 835 at-bats over the last four seasons. The Red Sox were still paying him through 2020, when they paid $5 million to buy him out of his contract.
Vazquez looks better
Cora said starting catcher Christian Vazquez (eye laceration) was looking better on Saturday, but the Red Sox remain unsure of his status going forward.