Jefry

Rodriguez

The first round of cuts from Nationals’ camp include Klobosits, who made 11 relief appearances late last season and a few prominent non-roster invitees fighting for a spot on the big-league roster in Rodriguez and Baldonado.

Rodriguez, 28, holds a 5.34 ERA over 38 appearances -- 17 starts -- at the major league level. He’s mostly organizational filler at this point.

Rodriguez is now officially off the 40-man roster but will remain part of the Nationals organization for now. The 28-year-old holds a career 5.34 ERA in 123 major league innings.

Rodriguez has allowed 14 earned runs in 15 innings over his last nine appearances dating back to July. The Nationals will have to hope that a stint in the minors will get him back on track.

While Rodriguez allowed just one hit and struck out two, he also walked three and threw just 32-of-60 pitches for strikes. Command has often been an issue for the 27-year-old, but it’s an effective first appearance for the right-hander after having his contract purchased on Saturday. He’ll likely be a multi-inning reliever for the Nationals, with the ability to make some spot starts.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but basically, it comes down to whether righty Jefry Rodriguez is needed in relief of starter Erick Fedde in the front-end of Saturday’s twin-bill. Unless that transpired, and Rodriguez is unavailable to start Saturday’s nightcap, Ross will take the ball for Sunday afternoon’s series finale instead. In case you’re wondering, yes, there will be a test on all of this at the conclusion of the doubleheader.

Rodriguez is taking the roster spot of injured righty Daniel Hudson in the Nationals’ bullpen. He could potentially start the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Giants. The 27-year-old righty had a brief stint in the majors with the Indians back in 2019. He’s compiled a 7.56 ERA, 1.74 WHIP and 19/13 K/BB ratio over 16 2/3 innings (six appearances, five starts) at Triple-A Rochester this season. He can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.

Rodriguez came down with a bit of right shoulder stiffness last month and is just now getting back into flat-ground work, so he can safely be ruled out for the beginning of the 2021 regular season. The 27-year-old right-hander signed a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington back in late December.

Rodriguez went from the Nationals to the Indians in the Yan Gomes trade a couple offseason ago and now is back in his original organization. He holds a career 5.20 ERA over 24 appearances -- 16 starts -- in the majors and will offer the Nats some rotation depth.

Rodriguez wasn’t eligible for arbitration yet, but the Indians have non-tendered him, anyway. He holds a career 5.20 ERA over 24 appearances -- 16 starts -- in the majors.