Atlanta Braves Sean Rodriguez is Back! Now what does the future hold?

Braves add Rodriguez to the roster and give him the immediate start

The trade deadline is 14 days away and everyone is on the edge of their seats to see what teams will do.  Will the Atlanta Braves be buyers or sellers or could they be both or neither?  This article was inspired by a couple of tweets I saw this afternoon.

We’ve heard Braves General Manager John Coppolella say before that no one is off-limits except Freddie Freeman in trade talks, but I’m wondering if that’s changed a bit as we head into the deadline.

The name that popped up on my twitter timeline was Sean Rodriguez.  People were asking if the Braves are rushing him back and putting him on the field to increase his trade value.  I can see why that thought crossed your mind, but personally, I don’t think that is what’s going on.

The 2016 Major League Baseball season seems like it was so long ago.  Yet when you think about it, the season ended less than 10 months ago.  Whether it was a good season or a bad season for the players and teams, everyone knew the 2017 season was right around the corner, which brings a sense of excitement.

Braves utility player Sean Rodriguez especially had the sense of excitement coming off a career year in 2016 for the Pittsburgh Pirates in which he had a .270 batting average, .510 slugging percentage and a .349 on base percentage.  Compiled with 18 home runs and 56 RBI’s, the Braves took advantage of Rodriguez being a free agent and signed him to a two-year, $11.5 million contract in the offseason.

The 2017 season looked to be a great year for the Braves and Rodriguez until that dark day in late January when his SUV was hit by a stolen police car, leaving him with an almost fully torn rotator cuff, a dislocated biceps tendon and damage to his labrum…as well as his wife and two of his kids extremely injured.

The injuries Rodriguez sustained from this crash almost certainly seemed would keep him out of the lineup for the entire 2017 season.  We all thought that 2018 would be the first time we saw Rodriguez in an Atlanta Braves uniform.

Everyone thought that, except for Sean.

Paul Byrd interviewed Sean’s wife during last night’s game and she said that Sean told her he’d be back right after the All-Star game, but she just laughed it off.  He had it in his mind that he was going to do this and he did.

Less than six months after that extremely scary wreck, Rodriguez returned to the lineup Monday night for the Braves as they battled the Chicago Cubs.  Hitting in the seventh spot in the lineup and playing third base, Rodriguez went 0-3 at the plate with a walk and two strikeouts.

In the 9th inning, we almost had a miracle happen.  It was like a movie was playing out right in front of our eyes.

As the Braves trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning, Sean Rodriguez was at the plate with a chance to win the game for the Braves.  In his first game back from that terrible car accident and all the rehab and setbacks he went through, Rodriguez was at the plate with runners on second and third.  SRod got the count to three balls and two strikes, with two outs in the game…everything was lining up.  I almost had tears in my eyes!

Cubs closer Wade Davis eventually walked Rodriguez to load the bases…but the epic movie was there!  Maybe his heroic acts will come tonight!

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He had not so stellar numbers in his return, but being his first game back, not a true gauge on how the rest of the season will play out.  However, the Braves have to make a decision moving forward what the next steps will be for Rodriguez.

With the trade deadline approaching, is Rodriguez in the line up as trade bait, or will he fit into the Braves long-term plans?

Being that before 2016 Rodriguez’s highest batting average was .251, the highest slugging percentage was .440 and highest on base percentage was .323, along with only ever having 12 home runs and 41 RBI’s as tops, the next week and a half are going to vital.

If the Braves are “shopping” Rodriguez, he essentially has less than two weeks to prove to not only the Braves, but to every other team in the league that his injuries are not going to hurt him in the long run and he can return to his 2016 form and that 2016 was not a fluke year.

However, personally, I don’t think that’s what the Braves are doing.  Rodriguez is signed through 2018 and he just worked so hard to return to baseball.  Yes, this is a business, but I don’t see the Braves turning around and shipping Rodriguez to another town.

I do however think the Braves will trade someone because right now, we have an abundance of players looking for AB’s.

Next: Braves Jaime Garcia is in demand

Is Sean Rodriguez going to be traded? – I say no