Dodgers News: Fresh Details Emerge From Eduardo Rodriguez’s Decision to Decline Trade to LA

We have a little more insight into why he rejected a trade to the Dodgers.

Eduardo Rodriguez will likely never pitch for the Dodgers in his career, but he’ll forever have a place in the franchise’s history.

On the August 1 trade deadline, the Dodgers and Detroit Tigers agreed to a deal to send the left-hander to LA to bolster the team’s second half and postseason rotation.

However, Rodriguez wasn’t interested.

Rodriguez has a no-trade clause in his contract to 10 teams — one of them being the Dodgers — and he chose to invoke it.

Later, it was revealed that he made the decision for familial reasons, and while that’s still true, there was reportedly some additional reasons for why he didn’t want to agree to the trade. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had the latest scoop.

However, according to team sources briefed on the discussions, Rodriguez and Mato asked for financial and contractual enhancements for the pitcher to join the Dodgers, one of 10 teams to which he is contractually permitted to block a trade. When those enhancements were not granted, he invoked his no-trade protection.

Rosenthal reports that Rodriguez and his agent wanted some financial enhancements to agree to the deal to LA.

Rodriguez has three years left on his deal, however, he could opt out of the remaining $39 million and head to free agency, where he’s likely to get a big payday as he’s in the midst of a career year.

He knew he was pitching well in Detroit, and assumed that he could continue that dominance — but he couldn’t be confident that it would continue in Los Angeles against the strong NL West.

So, when the teams couldn’t agree to those financial enhancements, Rodriguez declined the trade, forcing the Dodgers to scramble in the last minutes of the deadline and add LHP Ryan Yarbrough from the Kansas City Royals at the buzzer.

Obviously, if Rodriguez didn’t want to pitch in LA, it’s much better that it worked out the way it did. However, it’s unfortunate for the Dodgers that they weren’t able to get the additional rotation piece they desired.