PITTSBURGH -- Scott Harris¡¯ first Trade Deadline as the Tigers' president of baseball operations resulted in the kind of deal that typifies his approach, turning a rebound season for Michael Lorenzen into a prospect they can use. But the Deadline also included a more significant deal that didn¡¯t get done.

Sources confirmed that the Tigers had the structure of a deal in place to send left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to the Dodgers, but the trade fell apart when Rodriguez exercised his no-trade rights. The Dodgers are one of 10 teams that Rodriguez would have to approve the deal for as part of the trade rights negotiated into the five-year contract he signed to join Detroit as a free agent two years ago.

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It was a surprising development that emerged just before Tuesday¡¯s 6 p.m. ET Deadline, which passed without Rodriguez being traded. While he has three more seasons on his contract, totaling $49 million, he can exercise an opt-out clause at the end of this season and become a free agent, likely becoming one of the most sought-after pitchers on the open market.

The combination of opt-out and no-trade clauses, and the uncertainty that the former created, became two major obstacles as the trade season unfolded, according to Harris.

¡°There were some contractual headwinds that influenced [Rodriguez's] market,¡± Harris said on a Zoom call with reporters. ¡°There were a couple of terms in his contract that disqualified a lot of markets from pursuing him. So we were working with the market that we had with Eduardo. We were communicating with Eduardo in person, via text and on the phone. At the end of the day, we reached an agreement with Eduardo that he was not comfortable with, and he ultimately decided to stay in Detroit.

¡°If the consolation prize for not getting that deal is we get one of the best left-handed starters in baseball on the mound every five nights, sign me up for that.¡±

To get Rodriguez on the mound beyond this season, the Tigers will have to work out some sort of extension, likely after the season depending on his decision on the opt-out. Because the Red Sox extended Rodriguez a qualifying offer two years ago, which he turned down to sign with Detroit, the Tigers cannot extend a qualifying offer to him, nor can they receive a Draft pick as compensation if he opts out and signs elsewhere.

Harris did not discuss why Rodriguez did not want the trade, though he said he remained in regular communication with Rodriguez leading up to the Deadline. Detroit's clubhouse was closed Tuesday afternoon, and Rodriguez was not available.

Rodriguez lives in Miami and has spent his entire Major League career in the eastern half of the country in Baltimore, Boston and Detroit. He spurned interest from other clubs to sign with the Tigers early in the offseason following the 2021 campaign. He returned home for two months last season to attend to a personal situation. He has said publicly leading up to the Deadline that he loves Detroit and was interested in staying. In some cases, those hurdles can be cleared with enticements from the receiving club, but every situation is different.

¡°It¡¯s not just checking a box on a piece of paper,¡± said Harris, who inherited Rodriguez's contract when he joined the Tigers in September. ¡°We had a lot of conversations about different teams in the league and different situations. We had steady communication throughout. And at the end of the day, Eduardo wasn¡¯t comfortable with the deal as it was presented to him. That¡¯s his right; he¡¯s earned that right. This organization gave him that right to have a limited no-trade clause.

¡°He shouldn¡¯t be the villain in any of this stuff. He exercised the right that he earned with the performance throughout his career, and we respect that right.¡±

Once that right was exercised, Harris said, there was no time to pivot to another team before the Deadline for the kind of return package they sought.

¡°It was a long road, a long process on that,¡± Harris said. ¡°It didn¡¯t go through in the last hour before the Deadline. A lot of these processes take a lot longer than it seems on Twitter and TV. These are long, difficult processes, and we ultimately determined that a deal was not going to go through in the last hour. I can¡¯t really share the other conversations that we had, but I assure you that we explored every market for our players.¡±

Thus, Rodriguez is scheduled to start for the Tigers in the series finale against the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.