E-Rod agrees to deal with Red Sox (source)

December 1st, 2020

The Red Sox agreed to an $8.3 million deal with left-hander for 2021 on Tuesday, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

The team hasn't confirmed the deal, which comes ahead of Wednesday's deadline for teams to tender a contract for next season to their arbitration-eligible players. Rodriguez would have been in his fourth and final year of arbitration eligibility before becoming a free agent next offseason.

Rodriguez will earn the same salary in 2021 as he did in '20. The 27-year-old was set to be Boston's Opening Day starter last season but did not pitch at all after first contracting COVID-19 and then being diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammatory heart condition.

Rodriguez said earlier in November that he expects to be fully ready for the 2021 season and that he was set to begin an offseason throwing program and workouts. He wasn't allowed to do any physical exercise throughout the summer.

In his breakout 2019 season -- the last time he pitched -- Rodriguez went 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA and 213 strikeouts in 203 1/3 innings, finishing sixth in American League Cy Young Award voting.