It wasn't easy for the Boston Red Sox to let Eduardo Rodriguez go.
The former Boston left-handed pitcher recently signed a five-year, $77 million deal with the Detroit Tigers and Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom talked about the loss Monday.
"We were fighting our emotions on this one of what we thought was the right use of our resources and how far to extend. He means a lot to people here," Bloom said via team-provided audio. "I think he's not just a great teammate and a really good pitcher who had some tremendous big-game performances for this organization, but also a credit to a lot of people here who identified him when he was in the minor leagues, brought him over here and got the most out of him.
"There are deep roots here, and that made it harder to see him go. But ultimately it's something where we're happy for him and we have to be comfortable with how far we're willing to extend."
After six seasons, 64 regular-season wins and a World Series title it's definitely going to sting to see RodrÃguez in a different uniform.
