The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Rodriguez won’t return this season
NEW YORK — Boston Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will miss the entire season because of heart inflammation caused by COVID-19.
He has been on the injured list since mid-July and has not pitched this season.
“In the course of monitoring Eduardo after his return, we discovered that he was showing evidence of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart, and fortunately, the severity of that complication looked mild,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said before Saturday night’s game against the Yankees.
“We were optimistic that it would resolve in short order and that we would be progressing back to pitching. As we’ve continued to monitor it, it has not resolved. It is still there,“he said.
Rodriguez was a careerbest 19-6 last year with a 3.81. The Red Sox said July 7 the the 27-year-old had tested positive for COVID-19.
“We are confident that he is going to make a full recovery and that his long-term prognosis is excellent,” Bloom said. “But the fact of the matter is that there just isn’t enough time left this season to safely ramp him back up to pitching.”
Bloom five times described the condition was “mild.” Boston received the medical update Friday night and Rodriguez told his teammates on Saturday. Rather than travel with the team, he will return to his home in Florida.
“While the heart is is affected like this, we just can’t responsibly put any this kind of cardiovascular load on him,” Bloom said. “So once it once it resolves, we’ll be able to progress him back.”