No we are on a tight budget. Its still more money even if you extend. A lot more money. 20 innings max isnt worth it. Its absolutely idiotic IMO.
It depends. Its not worth it if 3 starts isn't the difference between meeting an objective or falling short. But if we finish 1 game out of the playoffs, and Rodriguez was really good, I think it would be reasonable to wonder if getting him up 3 starts sooner would've led to any more wins. Hell I wonder that about getting Rutschman or Henderson up a couple weeks earlier last season (though we weren't 1-2 wins short of any major milestones).
Fully agree in general, in a vacuum without other considerations, a year of control during a player's prime is an order of magnitude more important than the first 3 weeks of their rookie season. But plausible scenarios exist where that gap is closed entirely.
If we finish 1 game out of the WC and Rodriguez debuts May 1 with a 3.15 ERA over 125 innings, I think many of us will be wondering if him being available for 150 innings starting on Opening Day might've made up that difference. I'd absolutely trade all of Rodriguez' 2029 control for the difference between being a Wild Card and being 1 game out. Whether his presence on OD versus a month later is the difference between those things is unknowable, even with full hindsight, but its not an unreasonable theory.
