The Los Angeles Dodgers were turned down by the pitcher they pursued after Justin Verlander was taken off the market when he invoked his no-trade clause.
Justin Verlander was traded to the Houston Astros despite Houston having no prospects to offer and not nearly enough cash to be considered the front-runner on Monday. That was long suspected to be the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were rumored to be in on Verlander from the moment the Mets signaled they might be deadline sellers.
After that, the Dodgers looked to the trade market to find another pitcher. One they looked at was Eduardo Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers.
Talks advanced and they landed on an agreement with Los Angeles. Only, one small but important wrinkle: Rodriguez had a limited no-trade clause, and the Dodgers were on the list.
While players sometimes will waive a no-trade clause to put themselves in a competitive environment — something Verlander did to get himself to Houston earlier in the day — Rodriguez did not.
The Dodgers got straight-up denied by Rodriguez. Ouch.
Eduardo Rodriguez deal was nearly done and fell through
Jeff Passan had the report on the Eduardo Rodriguez deal. The Dodgers and 10 other teams were on the limited no-trade list:
Rodriguez has put up a 2.95 ERA this year in 15 starts along with a 1.030 WHIP.
As far as what other teams are on the 10-team no-trade clause, it's unclear. But limited trade clauses can be instated to give a player some leverage in a trade, or to block off undesirable geographic locations. Aroldis Chapman had a clause that kept him from being traded to the West Coast when he was with the Yankees to keep himself on the Eastern side of the country. According to some reports, Rodriguez's no-trade clause is a similar geographic block:
The lack of cooperation from Rodriguez on his no-trade clause could mean his return to Detroit is more likely this deadline.
