{"id":64552,"date":"2023-12-06T23:10:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T04:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=64552"},"modified":"2023-12-06T23:22:32","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T04:22:32","slug":"eduardo-rodriguez-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/12\/06\/eduardo-rodriguez-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"Eduardo Rodriguez Signs Four-Year Deal with the Diamondbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One former Boston Red Sox pitcher will be playing for his third team since leaving in 2019.\u00a0 According to ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=rodried05,rodried01&amp;search=Eduardo+Rodriguez&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eduardo Rodriguez<\/a> landed a four-year, $80 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The southpaw decided to head west after he spent <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/11\/15\/eduardo-rodriguez-inks-5-year-contract-with-tigers\/\" target=\"_self\">the last two seasons with the Detroit Tigers <\/a>before opting out of the final three years of his contract. Rodriguez left $49 million remaining on that contract to test the free agent market for the second time in his career.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">BREAKING: Left-handed starter Eduardo Rodriguez and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a four-year contract for around $20 million a year, pending physical, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1732609668017684576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Eduardo Rodriguez Lands In Arizona<\/h2>\n<p>He started his career with Boston, helping the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series. One of his best seasons came in 2019, his final year with the Red Sox. He posted a 19-6 record with a 3.81 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and 213 strikeouts in 34 starts across 203 1\/3 innings. Rodriguez signed a five-year, $77 million deal during the 2021-22 offseason as the Tigers went in on the southpaw and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baezja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Javier Baez<\/a>. Unfortunately, Rodriguez was hit with the injury bug due to a ribcage strain, but his extended absence was due to a personal matter. He ended up only tossing 91 innings with a 4.05 ERA.<\/p>\n<p>An injury to his left index finger put Rodriguez on the injured list for over a month. The Tigers made attempts at moving Rodriguez at the 2023 trade deadline. However, he nixed a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that invoked his 10-team no-trade clause. Rodriguez did have a respectable 2023 season where he posted a 13-9 record with a 3.30 ERA, 3.5bWAR, and 143 strikeouts in 26 starts.<\/p>\n<h3>What Rodriguez Brings to the Desert<\/h3>\n<p>Arizona was on the hunt for potential free agent starters. The Diamondbacks were linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giolilu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lucas Giolito<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lugose01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Lugo<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wachami01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Wacha<\/a> as they try to improve their rotation. They did so by pursuing their rotation upgrade from free agency in the left-hander.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez is a reliable pitcher and he will make a great addition to the team. He features a low 90s fastball, a good cutter, and a solid changeup. For the reigning National League Champions, Rodriguez will provide a third front-of-the-rotation caliber arm. That will go great with 2023 NL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy Young<\/a> finalist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/galleza01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zac Gallen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellyme01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Merrill Kelly<\/a>. Arizona relied on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pfaadbr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Pfaadt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nelsory01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryne Nelson<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davieza02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Davies<\/a> in the rotation for much of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Any team in need of pitching depth like Arizona certainly got Rodriguez as a cheaper alternative. Other pitchers available including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/snellbl01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blake Snell<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=montgjo01,montgo001jor&amp;search=Jordan+Montgomery&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Montgomery<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=yamamo004yos&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-12-06_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> will seek more money.<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One former Boston Red Sox pitcher will be playing for his third team since leaving in 2019.\u00a0 According to ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan, Eduardo Rodriguez landed a four-year, $80 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The southpaw decided to head west after he spent the last two seasons with the Detroit Tigers before opting out of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":64718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1071,35],"tags":[326,1122,240,3826,85,985,476,2522,5544,1820,2881],"class_list":["post-64552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mlb","category-news","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-blake-snell","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-brandon-pfaadt","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-eduardo-rodriguez","tag-javier-baez","tag-merrill-kelly","tag-ryne-nelson","tag-zac-gallen","tag-zach-davies"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}