The Red Sox needed Eduardo Rodriguez back in the rotation, and now they need him to improve.
Although there were plenty of setbacks and delays to his eventual return, there was plenty of justified excitement for Eduardo Rodriguez’s first start after hurting his knee in spring training. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as the back of the rotation was in desperate need for reinforcements, with Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly and Henry Owens all flaming out seemingly simultaneously. Of course, Rodriguez wasn’t exactly a beacon of consistency in 2015 — particularly during his pitch-tipping phase — but he showed enough promise to guarantee him a rotation spot on a roster which desperately needed a pitcher to step up.