Red Sox Should Be Embarrassed After Winning Eduardo Rodriguez Arbitration Case Over Chump Change
By Jerry Trotta
Contrary to popular belief, we don't all push an agenda against the Red Sox. However, when a club manages to embarrass itself as relentlessly as Boston has, it's impossible not castigate individuals up and down the organization.
One recent piece of news worth discussing doesn't pertain to Boston's cheating scandal, or, most recently, the team's impossibly poor management of the Mookie Betts trade. But it still makes the club look rough.
On Thursday, the Red Sox emerged victorious in their arbitration case against Eduardo Rodriguez. The kicker? It was over a difference of significantly less than $1 million.
Maybe it's standard protocol to go to arbitration over $675,000 for a pitcher who led MLB in starts and went 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA while making just $4.3 million a year ago. But it seems unnecessary for one of the richest teams in baseball? https://t.co/JnSdwSKig8
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) February 13, 2020
Seriously? We get that the MLB is a "business," but this is simply no way to conduct it. The fact that the two parties had to bring an arbitrator into their salary standoff over an ultimate difference of $675,000 should make fans far and wide roll their eyes.
And no, Boston's apparent desperation to save capital is NOT a feasible justification here, especially after they offloaded (most of, anyway) Betts' and David Price's contracts to the Dodgers.
Rodriguez gave everything to the Red Sox in 2019, leading the league in starts and logging a 19-6 record and 3.81 ERA when the rest of Boston's rotation was a walking dumpster fire. Sure, his requested $8.975 million was more than double what he made in 2019, but at a certain point, we're talking about a rich Red Sox team splitting hairs.
Eduardo Rodriguez lost his arbitration case with the #RedSox, according to a source. He will receive the team’s offer of $8.3M, not his requested $8.975M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 13, 2020
The Red Sox clearly don't care for merit in this case. The team's undying quest to save money will see Rodriguez earn $8.3 million in 2020, and that's that.
It's nothing short of a joke, folks, and fans in Beantown have every right to be repulsed by the recent transactions -- perhaps you might call them antics -- of their club.