Everybody has been trying to find an explanation regarding what has happened to Eduardo Rodriguez.
Perhaps the downturn is a byproduct of not pitching for more than a year, or maybe it might take time to separate himself from the impact of myocarditis. And then there is the question regarding his contract year.
Rodriguez is in the final season of his current contract, with the 28-year-old slated for free agent eligibility at season's end.
Is the anxiety of not having definition regarding his future weighing on Rodriguez -- who has lost four decisions in a row? Appearing on the Greg Hill Show Thursday morning, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom wasn't willing to go totally down that road, but he did admit it was a dynamic that can enter into the analysis of any free-agent-to-be.
"It’s always a concern. Everybody is different," Bloom said. "Again, I think there has been a lot of fluky stuff that has gone into some of the results in the last few outings. So there’s no reason for concern there. But these guys are all human and there are different things that go through your head. Far be it for me to say what is going through his head with respect to that. But you always worry about it. At the same time, it’s part of the game and it’s part of what all these guys go through. They wouldn’t have gotten to where they have gotten if they weren’t able to compartmentalize and separate some of those things. For me, you usually find in-season, it’s tougher to have those kind of conversations. But that’s not a hard and fast rule. I don’t think we should ever restrict ourselves in that regard even though you usually find when guys are rolling during a season it tends to be better for them to just focus on what is front of them every day."
Another topic broached by Bloom was how he was viewing his biggest offseason trade, sending Andrew Bentinendi to Kansas City.
Benintendi is having a fine season with the Royals, entering Thursday with a .291 batting average and .749 OPS with five homers. The outfielder finished hitting .340 with an .820 OPS for the month.
One of the key elements the Red Sox got back in the deal, Franchy Cordero, is now with Triple-A Worcester after hitting just .179 with a .501 OPS as a big-leaguer. He has, however, performed well since joining the WooSox, going 7-for-20 with a pair of home runs.
Another piece of the return for the Red Sox was Double-A pitcher Josh Winckowski, who has a 1.33 ERA in five starts for the Portland Sea Dogs. The Red Sox are also slated to get back three more minor league players-to-be-named-later.
"We always do that," said Bloom when asked how much he routinely analyzing the trade. "We’re always looking around, at least I am. You know you always want to look in the mirror. With that deal, we know that Franchy didn’t get off to the start we were hoping. We sent him down so he could play every day. He goes down there and right away he shows the ability we knew was there. So hopefully we can get him on track. Winckowski has done great. Obviously, we know the prospect component of that trade is going to take a while to play out. You try not to jump to conclusions on a daily basis when you wake up in the morning based on the box scores from the day before, but of course we’re always looking at that. As we see guys putting together seasons and putting together careers, to think about what we saw coming and what we could have seen coming a little better."