3 teams that absolutely blew it by not signing Eduardo Rodriguez
By Curt Bishop
Late on Wednesday night, the Arizona Diamondbacks made a key move to strengthen their starting rotation, signing veteran left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to a four-year, $80 million contract.
The deal includes a vesting option for a fifth year in 2028. If exercised, that would bring the value up to $99 million.
Rodriguez could have been of use to other teams who simply waited too long or were outbid by the Diamondbacks in the sweepstakes.
With that in mind, here are three teams that ultimately blew it by not signing the veteran left-hander to bolster their starting rotations for the 2024 season.
3. Detroit Tigers should have re-signed Eduardo Rodriguez
The Tigers got off to a solid start this offseason when they inked right-hander Kenta Maeda to a two-year, $24 million deal.
Unfortunately, that's all they've done so far, which is disappointing for fans who watched them take several steps forward in 2023.
Detroit finished with a record of 78-84 after losing 96 games in 2022. They also finished in second place in a weak AL Central division. But keeping Rodriguez around would have been helpful for a team that appears ready to take the next step and re-emerge in the American League.
Rodriguez signed for five years and $90 million prior to the 2022 season, but opted out at the end of 2023. Now, Detroit has missed its chance to bring back their veteran stalwart. The Tigers will need another front-end starter in order to compete in the AL Central in 2024.
Other options are still available, but it's unlikely that they'll be in the mix for Blake Snell or Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Instead, they let the Diamondbacks get better by poaching Rodriguez.
In 26 starts, Rodriguez won 13 games and had a 3.30 ERA in what proved to be his final season wearing a Tigers uniform.