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Carlos Rodón still fueled by White Sox non-tender

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Carlos Rodón still holds the White Sox' decision to non-tender him before the 2021 season close to heart.

“I don’t want to come off as a [expletive] toward the White Sox, but I’ll say this,” Rodón said to the Chicago Sun-Times. “When I got non-tendered, I wasn’t hurt but I took it as a slap in the face. And maybe I deserved it. It was a business decision. It’s business, nothing personal — it’s a movie quote, as we know, and it’s true.

“But as a player, you’d better take that personally because if you don’t, you’re just going to be done. I took it personally, and it gave me an edge — and that’s what made me get here now.”

Rodón expressed a similar sentiment to NBC Sports Chicago's Chuck Garfien almost a year ago. Now, he assures not only did he "take that personally," emulating the famous thinking of Michael Jordan in The Last Dance, but similar to Jordan, he went out and did something about it. 

MORE: Carlos Rodón bet on himself and won

He pitched a career year in 2021. He threw a 2.37 ERA paired with a blistering 0.957 WHIP. In those 24 starts and 132.2 innings, he struck out 185 batters and walked 52. He helped the White Sox with a 13-5 pitching record on the mound, earning him his first career All-Star nod. 

And a fat stack of cash. 

Rodón signed a two-year, $44 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. A healthy payday above the one-year, prove-it, $3 million deal he signed with the South Side going into the 2021 season. 

He posted another spectacular season in San Francisco during the 2022 season, earning yet another All-Star nod and landing sixth in Cy Young voting. He held a 2.88 ERA from an increased 31 starts and 178 innings on the mound. And he struck out a blazing 237 batters.

Again, he bet on himself, earning an even more lucrative, longer deal with the New York Yankees in the form of a six-year, $162 million deal. 

“Look, I came to the Yankees because I wanted to win,” Rodon says, “and I’m ecstatic that I’m a Yankee and I’m going to get a chance to pitch in multiple postseason runs for the rest of my career. They’re invested in their players, they invest in their facilities, their staff, everything. Baseball is at the forefront for them. Winning is at the forefront. Like, they care about it."

Rodón, while entering this season on the injured list, will eventually join a robust rotation with the Yankees, including Gerrit Cole, Nester Cortes, Luis Severino and Domingo German. 

And the White Sox helped fuel his success. 

“I’m not trying to hate on the White Sox,"  Rodón said. "I met a lot of good people, had a lot of good relationships, had a lot of ups and downs, learned a lot about myself and the pitcher I am and the person I am. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

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