Clint Hurdle announced today that Wandy Rodriguez would be starting for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers. Rodriguez is currently on the disabled list with a knee injury. He has made two rehab starts, and neither outing went well. Rodriguez gave up ten earned runs on 11 hits in 8.2 innings of work, with a 7:6 K/BB ratio and three home runs. All of that came at the Double-A level.
It’s not like Rodriguez had success in the majors prior to the injury. He had a 7.65 ERA in 20 innings of work, along with seven homers and a 16:6 K/BB ratio.
The Pirates don’t technically need a fifth starter until May 24th, although they would need a spot starter a week from today. If they did decide to go with a fifth starter earlier, then Rodriguez wouldn’t be the best choice. Brandon Cumpton has looked much better this year, both in the minors and in the majors. The Pirates might be seeing something here with Rodriguez that isn’t showing up in the numbers, but based on the numbers, I have a hard time believing everything will be fine with Rodriguez when he returns. At the least, they should have left him in the minors until he had one good rehab outing.
