Red Sox's Rodriguez experiences setback after COVID-19 battle

Rodriguez, who was forecasted to be the club's ace this season, experienced an undisclosed setback that led to deep concerns. "(Doctors) discovered something that we need to make sure we get rid of this completely before he gets on the field," Roenicke told reporters during a Zoom conference call.

Boston Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has but shut down from baseball activities after suffering "minor complications" in his attempt to move on from his coronavirus battle, manager Ron Roenicke told reporters on Thursday. Rodriguez, who was forecasted to be the club's ace this season, experienced an undisclosed setback that led to deep concerns.

"(Doctors) discovered something that we need to make sure we get rid of this completely before he gets on the field," Roenicke told reporters during a Zoom conference call. "It's nothing to mess around with as we've seen. We want to win as many ball games as we can, but the health of our players comes first.

The Red Sox announced on July 7 that Rodriguez has tested positive for COVID-19. The club placed him on the injured list on July 15. Rodriguez was in line to be the team's Opening Day starter after ace Chris Sale required season-ending Tommy John surgery and David Price was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the offseason.

Instead, it has been a rough past few weeks for the 27-year-old Venezuelan, who is coming off his best major league campaign. Rodriguez posted a 19-6 record with a 3.81 ERA in 2019 and set career-bests in wins, ERA, innings (203 1/3), starts (34) and strikeouts (213). Roenicke said Rodriguez didn't test positive in his last coronavirus test. But the doctors who are monitoring saw something of concern.

He also was dead tired after a recent 20-pitch bullpen session. "It's a mild case, but it's still serious enough to where we feel like to do the right thing with our players and to take care of them, this is a decision our doctors and (Red Sox chief baseball officer) Chaim (Bloom) and his crew and all of us have come up with," Roenicke said.

Rodriguez spoke about his ordeal with reporters on Sunday and said the coronavirus had him feeling "100 years old." "I've never been that sick in my life, and I don't want to get that sick again," Rodriguez said.

--Field Level Media

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