The coronavirus continues to throw a wrench into Eduardo Rodriguez’s 2020 plans.
Boston Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke revealed Thursday during a Zoom conference with reporters that Rodriguez has been shut down from baseball activities because of “minor complications” in wake of the pitcher’s recent battle with COVID-19.
“As with all our players who have tested positive for COVID, we have continued to monitor them with our medical staff,” Roenicke said. “In Eddie’s case, they have discovered some minor complications with him. But because of it, we’re taking everything very seriously with this matter and we’re going to shut Eddie down from baseball activities for a period of time. We’re going to reevaluate him in a week to see where he’s at.
“It’s a mild case, but it’s still serious enough to where we feel like to do the right thing with our players and to take care of them, this is a decision our doctors and (Red Sox chief baseball officer) Chaim (Bloom) and his crew and all of us have come up with.”
More Red Sox: Here’s Boston’s 30-Man Opening Day Roster
Rodriguez, who returned to Fenway Park for MLB Summer Camp over the weekend, did not test positive for the virus again, according to Roenicke. The Red Sox simply are playing it safe.
It’s unclear when exactly Rodriguez will rejoin the team, but Roenicke is confident the left-hander will pitch this season — perhaps sometime relatively soon — despite the latest setback.
“He actually feels OK,” Roenicke said. “It’s just during the process of going through the different things that these guys go through with the COVID — and this is from MLB but also from our doctors on what they think is necessary for a player to come back and to be healthy and strong and we feel can be back on the field — so through that monitoring of what is going on with them, they’ve just discovered something that we need to make sure that we get rid of this completely before we have him back on the field.”
The Red Sox announced on July 7 that Rodriguez had tested positive for COVID-19. The team placed him on the injured list July 15.
Rodriguez admitted Sunday the coronavirus hit him hard, explaining he experienced all symptoms and felt like he was “100 years old” while battling the illness. He wasn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day, but Thursday’s news casts additional uncertainty over the 27-year-old’s status moving forward.
Boston’s season begins Friday night with a matchup against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Nathan Eovaldi draws the start for the Red Sox, who over the offseason lost Chris Sale to Tommy John surgery, Rick Porcello via free agency and David Price via trade.
