The Red Sox knew going into the shortened 2020 Major League Baseball season that they’d be without Chris Sale due to Tommy John surgery.
But Boston was thrown a curveball when Eduardo Rodriguez contracted COVID-19 and dealt with myocarditis as a result.
But come 2021, they both should be on the mound.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke to reporters after the Red Sox traded Josh Osich and Kevin Pillar ahead of Monday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.
“I think the timing with Chris with typical Tommy John rehab it’s probably going to put him, I would guess, beyond Opening Day and it’s not something we want to rush,” he told reporters on Zoom. “We have to respond to how the player’s doing. You can’t rush that type of rehab. Chris is a bulldog, so competitive and he is going to, I’m sure, be pushing timetables every step of the way. But we’re going to make sure we take care of him for the long haul.”
As for Rodriguez, Bloom seemed optimistic the southpaw will be good to go come 2021.
“We still need to see this through, this period of rest that he’s in,” he said. “But we have every expectation that he’s going to be ready to go.”
It certainly will boost the Red Sox’s starting rotation with those two on the mound every five days.
