Eduardo Rodriguez Update: Red Sox Starter Still Expected Back, But When?

Eduardo Rodriguez remains very much part of the Boston Red Sox’s 2020 plans.

Rodriguez currently is sidelined with myocarditis, a heart condition stemming from the pitcher’s recent bout with COVID-19. It’s unclear when exactly he’ll return, but Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke told reporters before Thursday’s game against the New York Mets at Citi Field that Rodriguez had a follow-up with doctors and the club should learn more information within the next day or two.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom also provided an update on Rodriguez earlier in the day, explaining on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” the team still expects the left-hander to return at some point this season, even though there’s no specific timetable.

“We do expect to get him back. I couldn’t tell you exactly when,” Bloom said. “Obviously we’re fortunate in that the complication that he had was very mild in terms of just the severity of it. But obviously we chose to leave it to Eddie to talk about to the extent he wanted to, so you guys have heard what he’s dealing with. It’s not something you mess around with.

“So even though we’re fortunate it’s mild — we’re very confident he will make a full recovery, he’s going to be fine long-term, he’s going to be able to pitch for us, and we’re expecting it to be at some point this summer — it’s just not something you can mess around with. Until you’re sure it’s completely resolved, you can’t really get him on that track.”

Rodriguez, who recently explained the coronavirus left him feeling like he was 100 years old, would go a long way toward stabilizing Boston’s rotation, which has struggled mightily to this point beyond Nathan Eovaldi.

The 27-year-old is coming off a breakout 2019 season in which he went 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings while making a career-high 34 starts totaling 203 1/3 frames.

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