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Last season, Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez missed almost two full months because of a dislocated right kneecap. Now, Rodriguez has suffered another injury to that same knee.

Here are the details from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:

Rodriguez, who has been pitching winter ball in Caracas, Venezuela, had to leave his game for Navegantes del Magallanes in the first inning Tuesday when he suffered right knee discomfort.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski wrote in an email, "He tweaked his knee last night pitching. It doesn't appear to be anything serious."

The good news, obviously, is that the injury appears to be minor. However, as noted it's the very same knee that cost him almost a third of the 2016 season, and as Cafardo notes, Rodriguez, even after returning, didn't "trust" his knee for quite some time. In addition to the physical concerns, this latest injury has presumably eroded some of that trust.

Rodriguez, who's going into his age-24 campaign, has pitched to a 104 ERA+ and 2.57 K/BB ratio across parts of two major-league seasons with Boston. He's slated to be a rotation regular for the Red Sox in 2017. Certainly, the addition of Chris Sale in tandem with the returns of David Price and AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello lessen the pressure on Rodriguez. However, the recent trade of Clay Buchholz means the Sox have less depth. Right now, Steven Wright is the next arm in line should one of the starting five go down.

It's worth reiterating that this isn't yet considered to be a serious injury, but it wouldn't be surprising if the Sox shut down Rodriguez for the winter and perhaps lean on him to back off the World Baseball Classic (he's on Venezuela's roster). Given the history of that right knee, how quickly it heals is also worth monitoring.

As the Dodgers learned last year, rotation depth is more often necessity rather than luxury. That may be a lesson that the 2017 Red Sox learn anew.