Eddie and the Confusers

Eduardo Rodriguez has a 16-5 record. This is among the top 10 W/L percentages in baseball right now. #1 is Domingo German. #s 4 and 5 are Astros. Eddie is #6.

To be honest, Rodriguez' come-up was inevitable. During last season's ultimate uprising in Boston, Eddie was one of the forgotten figures, with a 13-5 record and 146 strikeouts. Unfortunately, in a year with David Price, Chris Sale and Nate Eovaldi in that same rotation, his stats were dwarfed, and only one of his 2018 postseason appearances was a start.

If for some reason the Red Sox make it to October this year...I feel like they'd want Rodriguez to start a game. I think he's finally proved himself, not by being better than usual, because I don't think he is...but being good in a year when Price and Sale are not. Sale's season will go down as his weakest to date, even with the injury, and Price's, while also injury-marred, is also marked by the man's highest ERA since 2009. And in a year where it seems like no other starting pitchers seem to be complying, including Eovaldi, Andrew Cashner, Hector Velazquez, Rick Porcello or Brian Johnson, having Rodriguez not only having a uniformly solid year, but a league-standard kind of year, is a good sign.

This is clearly not the Red Sox' year. Banking too hard on its 2018 squad by resigning Steve Pearce and Nate Eovaldi instead of picking up free agents doomed them to a mediocre season where the best parts of its 2018 squad seemed to be held back by the shortcomings of keeping the same people and letting them all turn one year older. Even if Bogaerts, Devers, Betts and Martinez are awesome this year, they're only a small part of the lineup, and if the rest of the lineup is only doing alright, and if your savior 2nd baseman prospect gets injured as things begin to pick up (which seems to be a theme in the AL East), then it nullifies everything else.

The Boston Red Sox have a chance to squeak into the postseason, but they'll have to outdo Oakland, Cleveland and Tampa. So good luck.

Coming Tonight: A man who has been traded for Zack Greinke, Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz, Aaron Hill, Ketel Marte, Taijuan Walker,  J.P. Crawford and Carlos Santana. And he's still one of the best players to watch work.