The Tigers Had A Deal In Place To Trade Eduardo Rodriguez To The Dodgers, But He Said "Nah"

The beauty of the game of baseball is that if you watch it long enough, you will eventually start seeing things you've never seen before. Every year I am baffled by the Tigers trade deadline. But this year, they reached a new low. Eduardo Rodriguez was a pitcher that the Tigers were desperate to trade. Why were they desperate to trade him? Probably because he's a pitcher with an ERA in the fours over his entire career who, out of nowhere, pitched the best baseball of his life for a month and a half. This lined up perfectly for Detroit. You couldn't have asked for Eduardo Rodriguez to pitch better baseball than he pitched this year. He made himself a remarkably enticing trade chip, and Detroit fucked it up again. 

I know a lot of people are going to play the blame game here. I think Scott Harris made a mistake not realizing that Eduardo Rodriguez may not waive his no-trade clause. I'm starting to believe that it doesn't matter who the GM/president is here. Chris Ilitch's stank wears off on everybody. The story of this deadline was the story of the last deadline, the deadline before, and the four deadlines before that. There is never a Plan B. Eduardo Rodriguez didn't say yes to the Dodgers? I guess we're fucked. A second option? Who the fuck cares. Let's call it a day. 

I'm aware that there is a person behind the ball player. I empathize with that stuff. I'm not questioning his prowess as a pitcher. The guy belongs in the major leagues, but the Tigers were doing Eduardo Rodriguez a favor. He no longer had to pitch for this piece of garbage organization. "Go to LA. You'll get to pitch game two after Kershaw in October. You might even get a ring out of it." NOPE! I understand everyone goes to personal shit. The last person who should be commenting on any of that is me. But this is now the second year in which Eduardo Rodriguez has done something that has greatly impacted the organization. Last year he took a 2+ month sabbatical to deal with a family issue. The organization was still determining where he was for two months. By all accounts, he sorted out his problems. I'm glad he has. The only way to rectify this is I need him to be an ace for the next three years here. If you truly love Detroit that much and don't want to leave, you better not entertain the idea of opting out of your contract. 

These things only happen to the Detroit Tigers. I know everyone likes to point and laugh at the Mets, but the Mets will be fine. Cohen's going to spend money, they're going to bring in David Stearns to be their GM, and they're going to right the ship. This year was a disaster, but I'm willing to chalk it up more to being an anomaly than a long-term thing. It doesn't matter who the GM is with this organization. It doesn't matter who the players are. I wish I could blame it on some external force or curse. No, we're all stupid. Everyone is stupid. And as much as I am insulting the organization right now, the most foolish person here is me. Because even though I want to jam an ice pic into my head, I still watch tonight's game. And I'll watch tomorrow's game and probably watch every game this year, next year, and until the end of time because this is the life I've chosen. By this time next year, Eduardo Rodriguez better be running away with the American League Cy Young award. If not, piss off. 

This is the problem with being the Tigers guy. Don't tell me that I don't have anything to offer. This fucking team has nothing to offer. They give me dick to work with. Some of the "best" hitters on this team are guys I guarantee you haven't heard of. If Kerry Carpenter walked into the fucking Barstool office tomorrow, people would think we just hired a new intern. I am the ultimate sucker. This is my squad. I'm not turning my back. I'm with them till the end of the line. And trust me, sometimes I wish I wasn't.