Rays Expressing Interest in Braves Wandy Rodriguez
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I am privileged to be a guest on the Thom Abraham sports radio show on a weekly basis to talk Braves baseball with him, but today, he let me in on something I had missed from Sunday… via TampaBay.com:
"With three of their projected five starters (Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly and Alex Colome) sidelined by injury and illness, the Rays are looking at internal and at least a few external options to join Chris Archer, Nathan Karns and Jake Odorizzi.…But the team is also looking outside, and this is the week veterans who aren’t going to make other teams are cut loose. Among possibilities the Rays appear to be considering are Wandy Rodriguez (who is in camp with the Braves); Bruce Chen and Shawn Marcum (Indians); and Clayton Richard (Pirates)."
As reported this morning, the Braves have a number of key decisions to resolve quickly, and Rodriguez’ status is one them as he has an opt-out date of tomorrow. That said, he pitches tonight against the Astros in what undoubtedly be a key start to determine his immediate future.
What To Make of This
This is very likely a serious “interest” level from Tampa Bay: they have real needs with their rotation seemingly falling apart around them. Also, the other options mentioned are not better than Rodriguez:
- Shaun Marcum. 1.29 ERA, but he’s only thrown 7 innings.
- Clayton Richard. 3.12 ERA, 4 outings and nearly 9 innings
- Bruce Chen. 5.00 ERA, 9 innings.
- Meanwhile, Wandy Rodriguez has a 2.50 ERA over 18 innings, and will add more tonight.
Both Marcum and Chen have already been released by the Indians. Richard has an opt-out clause if he fails to make the Pirates.
THE RETURN
This is not a situation in which a big return should be anticipated: the first question is whether the Braves want to keep Rodriguez around. All things being equal, that’s likely a “yes”. While he has earned one of the rotation slots, there are a couple of additional factors:
- $2,000,000 salary if he makes the club… not a lot by usual standards, but it’s still $2 million
- The tightness of the 40-man roster as the club considers keeping guys like Eric Stults or others.
- As a 4th starter, Wandy is much more valuable, though as Mike Minor returns, that value is reduced somewhat as a 5th starter.
- Health is still a concern. Though he’s clearly pitching well now, Rodriguez has battled arm issues over the past couple of years.
Overall, it’s still a matter of whether the Braves would value Rodriguez’ presence over whatever the Rays might offer in return. Nonetheless, this is not a time to hold someone hostage for the highest bidder – it is a matter of maybe finding a nice solution for a roster-crunch issue among a pair of teams that frankly are both expecting to finish in the lower parts of the pack this year. While Wandy should be #1 on the Rays’ shopping list, they will go elsewhere if the Braves try to play hardball.
Tomorrow’s the deadline.