Brewers Need to Let Rodriguez Go

Let it go. Let it go. It is something that my four-year-old niece sings loudly every single day and that Doug Melvin needs to tell himself when it comes to Francisco Rodriguez. After four separate runs of bringing Rodriguez to the fold, there is no reason for a fifth.

Yes, at times he has been a dominant closer, a shutdown setup man and a pitcher who will take the ball whenever necessary, but it is time to pull the plug. Even coming off an all-star season, there is no reason that Rodriguez needs to return to Milwaukee again.

By becoming the closer last season, he exceeded every single expectation that came with his signing, but that type of luck could not be expected again in 2015.

Though he is just 33-years-old, he has 347 career saves to his name and he has pitched in nearly 800 games, there is no need for 20-minutes of terror in Milwaukee again. Last season he finished the year with a 3.04 ERA and was an all-star, but the negatives are a major reason as to why he is still on the market as the season nears.

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While he has all of these great numbers there is also the bad K-rod, which we saw on display in parts of last season. The worst of all of his stats has to be his 14 home runs allowed. After very successful 2010-2011 seasons where his home run per nine inning rate was 0.5 these numbers have grown astronomically each season. Last season the rate grew to an alarming 1.9, which was even surprisingly lower than his 2013 numbers. Not only are these numbers scary, but according to Fangraphs, his home run to fly ball rate of 23.3% is even worse. Though his ERA was steady, his fielding independent pitching numbers of 4.50 show that it could have been much higher.

With his fastball velocity decreasing, his home run rate increasing and an arm that has logged well over 800 innings, a drop-off from his 2014 season is surely expected. With plus arms in the back of the bullpen, a wildcard in Chris Perez and the impending addition of Jonathan Papelbon (it’s a matter of time before it happens), there is no need to take a flier on Rodriguez again. He has been great and exceeded expectations many times before, but it is time for Doug Melvin to just simply let the idea of signing him go and watch him sign on with another team.