The Diamondbacks are one of few major-league teams that can offer players the opportunity to live in the same city year-round. That played a big role in Eduardo Rodriguez's decision to sign with the Diamondbacks.

Jesse Friedman

Why Eduardo Rodriguez picked the Diamondbacks

Every year at the winter meetings, front office personnel from all 30 major-league teams conduct numerous meetings as they scour the market for trades and free agents that could suit their needs.

Due to the sheer volume of these meetings, they are often relatively short.

When the Diamondbacks sat down with Eduardo Rodriguez and agent Gene Mato in Nashville last week, however, "short" was not an apt descriptor.

"It was probably the longest player meeting I've ever had," Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said, "This one lasted upwards of an hour and 45 minutes, maybe two hours. We talked about a lot of things, which was incredible."

Conversation topics ranged from stories of Dustin Pedroia, a member of the Boston Red Sox while Rodriguez, Hazen and current Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo were all there in 2015-16, to how Rodriguez would fit in the middle of the Diamondbacks' rotation.

The meeting seemingly left an impression on Rodriguez.

"I just literally told Gene right away," Rodriguez said, "this is the organization where I want to be."

Certainly, the Diamondbacks' willingness to offer Rodriguez a reported four-year, $80 million contract with a conditional option for a fifth year was a big factor in why the deal got done.

When asked why he chose the Diamondbacks, Rodriguez said that the biggest reason was the opportunity to live in Arizona year-round with his family, including during spring training.

For Rodriguez, proximity to his wife and two kids is a top priority. He made that clear when, at this year's trade deadline, he exercised his partial no-trade clause to reject a deal that would have sent him from the Detroit Tigers to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rodriguez told reporters on Tuesday that he rejected the deal because he had just moved his family to Detroit and he did not want to be so far away from them while they were acclimating to a new region.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Rodriguez received the same 10-team, no-trade clause that he had with Detroit in his new deal with the Diamondbacks.

In addition to the seemingly ideal family situation, there were other factors in Rodriguez's decision to pitch in Arizona as well. The Diamondbacks' run to the World Series in 2023 was certainly one. Another was his aforementioned familiarity with Hazen and Lovullo.

"They didn't have to sell me too much," Rodriguez said. "I trusted them when they were in Boston.

"That comes with the relationship that I have with them."

Rodriguez spent a particularly lot of time in Boston with Lovullo, who served as the Red Sox' bench coach during Rodriguez's first two seasons in the majors.

"He was in the dugout every day with us," Rodriguez said. "That was kind of like having a teammate. Now, he's gonna be my manager.

"We had a good relationship over there, and that was a big part of why I decided to come here. I know the guy who's gonna be my boss in the field, the guy who's gonna be my jefe, like we say it in Spanish."

For the Diamondbacks, Rodriguez slots in nicely as the presumed No. 3 starter behind Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, who formed one of the top pitching duos in baseball in 2023.

Granted, last time the Diamondbacks signed a 30-year-old lefty to a multi-year contract, it did not end well. Nonetheless, Hazen is confident that, given Rodriguez's intelligence and work ethic — as well as the Diamondbacks' pitching infrastructure with Brent Strom at the helm — Rodriguez will be effective in 2024 and beyond.

"We talk about pitchers, as they get to a certain age and beyond, they need to continue to reinvent themselves," Hazen said. "You've watched Merrill Kelly go out there and become better and better and better every year he's gone out there. That's not an accident. There's work and there's planned adjustments that get made.

"We feel like Eduardo can do those same things — is going to do those same things and get better."

On paper, with Gallen, Kelly, Rodriguez, and Brandon Pfaadt forming the top four of the rotation, the Diamondbacks have the makings of one of the better starting pitching staffs in baseball.

TRENDING NOW

Shohei Ohtani's deal with Dodgers a reminder of Diamondbacks' plight, MLB's flaws

Ohtani's massive deferrals have gotten most of the attention, but they are not even part of the problem.

Read article

Can Eduardo Rodriguez avoid Madison Bumgarner's fate?

A look at what should be expected from the Diamondbacks' newly signed starting pitcher and how he compares to GM Mike Hazen's previous big-dollar investment.

Read article