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Eduardo Rodriguez Won't Be Healthy For Opening Day

BOSTON (CBS) -- Red Sox manager John Farrell has confirmed that starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez will not be ready for the beginning of the regular season.

Rodriguez is battling a knee injury sustained while fielding balls in the outfield early on in spring training.

"He is not going to be ready for the start of the season," Farrell said. "We'll address each phase as it comes. Most importantly, we want to make sure that his stride direction, his stride length, all of those are normal as we then build the intensity on top of that."

Farrell's announcement comes after Rodriguez's first appearance on a mound since the injury. While his bullpen session was promising, Farrell wants to play it safe with the young lefty.

"We're evaluating the phase. As long as he accomplishes this bullpen phase, getting back to his normal delivery. ... We've got to get back to a normal stride," Farrell said.

As for an outlook, Farrell couldn't commit to a date.

"The best-case scenario is when he's ready and available," Farrell said. "There are steps that we have to go through here, and I don't have an exact number of days that he'll need to advance through each of those phases. I can tell you this -- any time we get a starting pitcher that goes out on rehab, you're getting them to 80, 90 pitches, and you can't bring them back with the potential that they overtax a bullpen. So we've got to build to that point. That's why I said the other day -- he needs spring training."

The Red Sox will be forced to turn to Steven Wright, Henry Owens or Roenis Elias in the absence of Rodriguez, who impressed with a 10-6 record and 3.85 ERA as a rookie last season.

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