Lefty Rodriguez, Tigers reach $77 million, 5-year deal
Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez and the Detroit Tigers agreed to a $77 million, five-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press on Monday.
The left-hander, 28, whose fastball averages 93 mph, is set, pending a physical, to join a Detroit rotation projected to include Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal on a team that finished third in the AL Central at 77-85. Rodriguez utilizes five pitches, also throwing a cutter, sinker, slider and changeup.
He was 13-8 with a 4.74 ERA in 31 starts and one relief appearance for the Boston Red Sox this year, striking out 185 and walking 47 in 1572⁄3 innings. He was signed to an $8.3 million, one-year contract.
Rodriguez was 1-1 in three postseason starts.
He missed the pandemicshortened 2020 season because of myocarditis, heart inflammation caused by COVID-19. He is 64-39 with a 4.16 ERA in six major-league seasons, all with the Red Sox.
Boston made him an $18.4 million qualifying offer and would receive an additional pick in next year’s amateur draft if the deal with Detroit is finalized.
⏩ The World Series champion Atlanta Braves added depth at catcher by signing Manny Piña to a two-year, $8 million contract. Piña, 34, hit a career-best 13 home runs in 75 games with Milwaukee this season, his sixth with the Brewers.
ELSEWHERE Miami AD out after football loss
Blake James is no longer Miami’s athletic director, with both sides saying it was a mutual decision for him to leave the university in a move that came two days after the Hurricanes’ team lost at Florida State.
Football — the biggest part of Miami’s athletic brand — has struggled again this season. Miami is 19-15 in head coach Manny Diaz’s three seasons, including 5-5 this year. The Hurricanes wasted an eightpoint lead in the final minutes of Saturday’s 31-28 loss to FSU.
Former Miami — and Cleveland Browns — head coach Butch Davis will not be back as
Florida International’s head coach in 2022. The Panthers have two games left in Davis’ fifth and final season at the school. FIU stunned Miami 30-24 on Nov. 23, 2019, and has gone 1-16 since then.
College soccer: Santa Clara’s men, who clinched their first NCAA tournament berth since 2015 by winning the WCC, learned they would play at Akron in Thursday’s first round. Soccer: Zack Steffen, Manchester
City’s No. 2 goalkeeper, will start in goal for the U.S. in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier at Jamaica over New England’s Matt Turner.
The No. 13 Americans will be missing midfielder Weston McKennie and defender Miles Robinson, serving one-game suspensions for yellow-card accumulation. The U.S. leads North and Central America and the Caribbean with 14 points, ahead of Mexico on goal difference, followed by Canada (13),
Panama (11), Costa Rica, Jamaica and El Salvador (six each) and Honduras (three). The top three nations qualify, and fourth place advances to a playoff.
Italy is facing another detour to get to a World Cup. The recently crowned European champion stumbled to 0-0 draw at Northern Ireland, plunging to a second-place finish behind Switzerland in their qualifying group.
Like 2018, Italy must survive a playoff to reach the World Cup. But last time, the Azzurri wound up losing to Sweden in a two-leg playoff and failed to make the World Cup in Russia, one of the darkest moments in Italy’s soccer history.
Switzerland leapfrogged Italy with a 4-0 win over Bulgaria to qualify outright for next year’s tournament in Qatar. England also is heading there after romping 10-0 over San Marino, with Harry Kane netting four times.
Tennis: Five-time champion Novak Djokovic began his ATP Finals by beating Casper Ruud 7-6 (4), 6-2 in Turin, Italy. Djokovic is attempting to match Roger Federer’s record of six titles at the season-ending event.