The Boston Red Sox’s loss is the Detroit Tigers’ gain.
Multiple sources report left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez agreed Monday to a five-year, $77 million contract to move to Motown.
Had Rodriguez returned to Boston, he would’ve helped Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi anchor the starting rotation.
Instead, the door is wide open for Garrett Whitlock to escape the Boston bullpen. In fact, Whitlock could be part of the reason Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom let Rodriguez walk.
Tuesday at the GM Meetings in Carlsbad, Calif., Bloom confirmed Whitlock, along with top prospect Tanner Houck, could be ticketed for the starting rotation in 2022. Per MLB.com:
“Tanner’s been developed as a starter. When we brought Garrett into the organization, we saw him as a starting-pitching prospect. We think even more highly of their upsides than we did at this time last year. Obviously, they both did some really good things this year. And they have the ceiling to be Major League starters. The advantage of them being able to do different things means that depending on how the offseason shakes out and the different things we’re able to do, it may make more sense to have them in a different role. I think we’d be foolish to cut off the upside of them being starters at some point. And that point could be next year, but it depends how it all shakes out.”
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The Red Sox selected Whitlock from the New York Yankees one year ago in the Rule 5 Draft. He came to Boston despite being on the rebound from Tommy John surgery and having never played above Double-A.
Whitlock impressed as a rookie in Boston’s bullpen, making 46 appearances and posting a 1.96 ERA in the regular season. His dominance continued in the playoffs, with a 2.16 ERA in five appearances.
As for Rodriguez, he rejected a qualifying offer from the Red Sox before signing with the Tigers so Boston will receive draft-pick compensation.
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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.
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