When Carlos Rodon signed a six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees last offseason, there were grand plans for 2023. Unfortunately for the southpaw and the Bombers, nothing went according to that plan.
Since Rodon’s offseason is beginning sooner than he originally anticipated, what will he do with his extra time? He’s going to disappear, according to how he answered that question in a sitdown with Randy Miller of NJ.com:
You can tell that you care. You’re intense on the mound. You were disgusted when you were on the IL. You talk about wanting to win all the time. You probably can’t wait for this season to get over.
Rodon: Yeah, I want this to be over with.
What are you going to do? Family vacation?
Rodon: Me? I’m going to get away, man. You won’t find me. I’ll be gone.
You going to go to some tropic island on sit on a beach?
Rodon: I’ll be here, but you won’t find me. I have a place not far from Kansas City. I’ll drive there after Sunday’s game and spend some time by myself. Just me. No wife. No kids. I want some time to not think about baseball. Then I’ll go home to Indiana and spend time with my family.
I’d imagine plenty of professional athletes do some form of this at the end of a long season — especially MLB players. After all, getting through spring training, a 162-game schedule, and then the postseason (for those lucky enough to participate) is a war of attrition. There needs to be a decompression from that before moving forward to prepare for what’s next.
I thought this answer was funny because of the way Rodon said it. The entire interview was transcribed as text, but you can sense his overall mood and tone of voice through each written word.
Every season is tough. It’s tougher when you deal with injuries and underperformance on an individual level. It’s even tougher when the team also underperforms in the sport’s biggest media market.
With the 24/7 sports news cycle, we forget these guys are humans, just like us. They have families, thoughts, feelings, and desires that can impact their job. The biggest difference is their office is a baseball diamond.
I obviously have no idea, but this sounds like an annual decompression ritual for Carlos Rodon following a season of baseball. And, to be honest — it sounds delightful. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. I know I would.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
