Detroit Tigers Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez Blocks Trade to Los Angeles Dodgers

Midway through a career year, Eduardo Rodriguez elected to invoke his 10-team no-trade clause and kill a potential trade deadline blockbuster.
Detroit Tigers Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez Blocks Trade to Los Angeles Dodgers
Detroit Tigers Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez Blocks Trade to Los Angeles Dodgers /

Detroit Tigers ace Eduardo Rodriguez blocked a trade that would have sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Rodriguez invoked his 10-team no-trade clause, which included the Dodgers, essentially killing the deal in its tracks an hour before Tuesday's MLB trade deadline. It is unknown what the Dodgers' trade package would have included had Rodriguez not shut it down.

The 6 p.m. ET deadline passed, and Rodriguez was not traded elsewhere. He was presumed to be one of the most coveted arms on the block.

The Tigers already traded starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen to the Philadelphia Phillies earlier Tuesday, and they would have wound up tearing their rotation down to the studs if they had been able to send Rodriguez to Los Angeles. Rodriguez is Detroit's only remaining starter with an ERA under 4.30 and a WAR over 0.5.

Rodriguez is currently 6-5 with a 2.95 ERA, a 1.030 WHIP, 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.3 WAR. The 30-year-old left-hander is in the second year of a five-year, $77 million contract that he inked with Detroit in November 2021.

Prior to joining the Tigers, Rodriguez spent seven seasons with the Boston Red Sox

Rodriguez went 64-39 with a 4.19 ERA and 1.313 WHIP during his time in Boston. The veteran posted double-digit wins and sub-4.00 ERAs in 2015, 2018 and 2019, helping the Red Sox win the World Series in 2018 and finishing sixth in AL Cy Young voting in 2019.

The Tigers, who are third in the AL Central at 47-59, rank No. 28 in baseball with quality starts in just 22% of their games. The Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals – the two worst teams in the league – are the only starting rotations with fewer quality starts.

The Dodgers are just below league average with 35 quality starts this season, thanks in part to the injuries that have decimated their rotation. Clayton Kershaw is on the 15-day injured list, Dustin May is out for the season and Walker Buehler and Ryan Pepiot have yet to appear in 2023. The often banged up Noah Syndergaard, meanwhile, got traded to the Cleveland Guardians in July.

Although Los Angeles failed to reel in Rodriguez, they did trade for Chicago White Sox veteran Lance Lynn on Saturday.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a Staff Writer for Fastball on the Sports Illustrated/FanNation networks. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's All Bruins, 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' Bruin Blitz, the Bleav Podcast Network and the Daily Bruin, with his work as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk.