If you ever troubled yourself with the question whether Fernando Rodney would seek to continue pitching — well, put those fears to rest. At least four teams have shown some level of interest in the veteran hurler, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).
Rodney, 43 in March, still delivers a mid-nineties fastball and devastating changeup — sufficient to support an 11.0% swinging-strike rate, 9.3 K/9 strikeout rate, and 49.6% groundball rate in the just-completed campaign. Of course, he also permitted more than five free passes per nine and surrendered a good bit of hard contact. It’d be a stretch to call Rodney a Statcast darling, but he did fare better in the eyes of the fancy cameras than he did on paper (.308 xwOBA vs. .332 wOBA).
There’s reason, then, to believe Rodney is better than the 5.66 ERA he logged in 47 2/3 total frames last year. Perhaps Rodney’s 4.05 mark with the Nationals, accrued over his final 33 1/3 innings of the regular season, is a more accurate read on his true talent at this advanced age.
While we wait to see which tilted cap Rodney will don this spring, it’s worth pausing to appreciate just how remarkable he has been to this point. Once a forgettable pitcher who seemed destined to fade away, Rodney emerged as a late-inning monster in his mid-thirties, stole MLB’s heart with his arrow-launching celebrations, and then forgot that his body was supposed to break down. There’s no hope of a return to his silly-good 2012 form; even the 3.36 ERA performance of 2018 would be a stretch. But would anyone be all that surprised if Rodney throws 50+ mostly useful, always entertaining innings in 2020?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I think we have our new Bartolo Colon, fellas.
you can’t just replace big sexy. how dare you!
This guy has homerun power?
I have a bobble head of the big sexy homer. Worth every penny. Lol
Not until he hits a homer in!
Stupid autocorrect…
No way! You should delete this comment
Phillies, lets go. Minor league deal take a chance.
Probably won’t be a minor deal since several are interested or they’re all minor deals and he wants one to step up.
It’s Heyman and it’s “some level of interest” which means 4 teams have checked in. I can’t imagine anyone gives him guaranteed money.
hope so. he’s volatile as heck but volatile is better than most of this pen.
I agree Phillies. Let’s do it. Load up the incentives on that minors deal and invite him to camp.
Jays are absolutely desperate for bullpen arms so why not sign him and when June/July comes around hopefully gets you a minor prospect or you keep him all year to help mentor the kids
Not desperate enough for Rodney. But I agree with you. Jays should move an OF not named Gurriel for a bullpen arm and sign Castellanos.
I like the cut of your jib may you please take over for shatkins
Ol’ Crooked hat has definitely made the most of his talent, and I give him props for that.
Still, my favorite Rodney moment was when the Angels Pujols and Trout beat him late in a game and both shot arrows at each other in celebration. :D
^ This. Gave us a truly memorable GIF of Trout firing the arrow. And for those that dont remember, the Pujols Trout arrows were in response to Fernando getting the last out in the 8th and firing an arrow at the Angel’s dugout.
youtu.be/byEEboHrIxw
Slow news day on MLB Trade Rumors !
It’s January. It’s expected.
I still can’t understand why teams continue to have interest in him. He is the worst, even when he had that season when his ERA was 0.50 he was lucky. Lol
his career ERA is actually higher than his FIP
Far from the worst. Certainly not the best, but if he’s the Nationals version of himself (4.05 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 9.4 K/9), that’s worth a flyer for a lot of teams.
Drawing interest for his meatballs lol perhaps.
World Series Champion Fernando Rodney*
Fixed
Prediction:. 3 years $13.5 million… AJ Preller and the Overpaying Padres.
[Sarcasm]
[Sarcasm] has decided to decline your option
Last time I checked, Rodney is the only big league player older than me still in the game. I cheer for him for that alone.
I can support this thinking. It was Big Sexy for me.
@Halos above.
You and me both. Though like Bartolo I still think I’ve got a year or two left in my shoulder.
Some guys play until they get their uniform ripped off. Rodney is one of them. He’s still effective, so why not?
So Altuve’s never retiring?
Badoop Pshhhhh!
lol, burn.
Hahahahhahha
That’s pretty damn clever. Lol
Isn’t Jamie Moyer still pitching ?
I’ve always enjoyed watching Rodney pitch because of his energy and flare for the dramatic. He reminds me a lot of K-Rod who when on the mound would have you on the edge of your seats the entire inning because he could walk three straight batters in a one run games before striking out the side to end the game. It was nerve racking watching him pitch for my Brewers but more times than not he Seoul’s come through in the end.
It’s great to see Christy Mathewson contemporaries still out there.
This dude is older than Bernie Sanders.
Padres traded him to the Marlins in 2016 for Chris Paddack. He was old then.
Fernando only has seven more years to match Jesse Orosco….
Good ol’ Jesse Orosco.
He cant throw strikes constantly last few years why would anyone want a take on him?
Is 42 his age or the speed of his change up?
His change averaged 83 last year.
Aaaaannnd, the joke went over your head.
This guy ran out of arrows years ago.
We had him in Seattle and he managed to get the job done most of the time, His saves were almost never without drama though. He would allow baserunners almost every time it seemed. Rarely a clean 1-2-3. But good for him at 43 to still have it. Pretty good paychecks if you can get them!
Go get him aj preller!!! Then the padres will have the best bullpen in the league!!
I just wish he would straighten his hat…
Y’all seem to be forgetting that being able to step into a late-inning role without completely imploded is a rare trait. It’s typically better to go with “the devil you know.”
*imploding
He’s only 3 teams behind Edwin Jackson’s record. Let’s see if he can sign with a team he hasn’t played for yet.
Dodgers will give him a 3 year 45 million contract.
Somebody needs to sign this guy so I don’t through a mid-life crisis after realizing I am older than everyone playing in the MLB…
Me too, he’s the only major leaguer active last season older than me. Never stop, Fernando.
I can’t take another 50 innings of his crooked hat.
this smells like another guy the cubs can toss on their giant pile of relievers.
He only needs to play for one more team to tie Mike Morgan with 12. So there’s that incentive.
He’ll be going on team number 12
I wouldn’t count on him as a closer, but could be a decent bullpen arm.
He is fun to have on the team during the regular season.
I’d fear having him in during pressure situations in the playoffs however.
I just hope he signs somewhere so there is still someone in MLB older than me.
make a move philly , give him a minor league deal
He can still pitch. For some reason Davey didn’t realize last year that he should never pitch in back to back games. Needs at least two games in between outings. Oh and at first sign of trouble he needs to come out
As a Nats STH, I saw plenty of Rodney this past year, sometimes he was really good, and others really bad. I’d like to see his splits on pitching with at least one day’s rest, versus how he did pitching on a second, or even a third, straight day. It seemed like most of his troubles came with no rest, which might be expected at his age, but the Nats kept using him that way.