SARASOTA, Fla. — Did Dan Duquette trade the next great ace to the Red Sox this time?

After Roger Clemens rode off into his faux twilight, it was then-Red Sox general manager Duquette who traded for Pedro Martinez after the 1997 season, setting in motion a nearly generation-long chain of No. 1 Red Sox starters: Martinez, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

That chain of Red Sox aces, as you might have heard, has broken.

And Duquette, now the GM of the Orioles, made a deal with his old team last July 31 that could, if all the pieces fall into place, turn into the kind of coup that will endear Duquette to Red Sox fans in ways he never quite imagined.

In acquiring left-handed reliever Andrew Miller from the Red Sox in order to lock up the Orioles’ push for the playoffs, Duquette sent his best starting pitching prospect, left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, in return.

The Orioles lost the ALCS and then lost Miller to free agency but Rodriguez now has one foot planted in the Red Sox present, the other in their future.

Yesterday, Rodriguez threw three dominant and perfect innings against a credible and formidable Orioles lineup that included J.J. Hardy (flyout), Adam Jones (groundout), Chris Davis (strikeout), Matt Wieters (groundout) and Manny Machado (groundout) in the Red Sox’ 7-6 split-squad victory.

Rodriguez is 21 years old, turning 22 next month, and has one of the smoothest deliveries you’ll ever see. With his powerful legs launching his compact and efficient upper-body mechanics, the lanky Rodriguez is very much in the discussion with Henry Owens, Brian Johnson and Matt Barnes as the next great hope for young Red Sox starting pitching.

None of this comes as a surprise to Duquette.

“I offered about 50 other pitchers before him,” said Duquette yesterday. “It was required that we give up Rodriguez for Andrew Miller. We had to take a shot.”

Duquette heard 14 other teams were in on Miller.

That the Orioles already have a solid core of strong young starting pitching (Dylan Bundy, Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman) helped soften the blow of losing Rodriguez.

But Duquette paid his steep price for a discount on the Orioles’ present and near future with Miller, not what Rodriguez could turn into someday down the road.

And now it’s the Red Sox who have all the time in the world to discover just how high Eduardo Rodriguez’ ceiling is.

“We have some other pitching depth, that’s true, but it was painful to trade Eduardo Rodriguez,” said Duquette. “It would have been less painful if we had won the pennant, obviously. It was a good trade for the Red Sox.”

Orioles manager Buck Showalter thought the deal was worth it for both teams.

Miller played a big role in the Orioles’ Division Series victory over the Tigers but Baltimore was outmatched against the red-hot Royals in the ALCS.

Miller was a two-month rental for the Orioles.

The lease on Rodriguez is open-ended.

“They made a good move and they also had an opportunity to re-sign (Miller) — that’s a good trade for both clubs,” said Showalter. “You get a chance to roll that dice, that’s why we all get up in the morning and that’s why Andrew made us a lot better. We had a good bullpen when we got there, but he took us to a different level. Let’s put it this way, who’s harder to replace this year, Andrew or Eduardo?”

Rodriguez denied that he drew any extra motivation by being able to pitch against his former team but admitted the fact that the Orioles did not throw any scrubs at him made his outing — three strikeouts, four groundball outs, one flyout, one pop-up — a bit more satisfying.

“More than anything I kept the same approach,” said Rodriguez. “Just because it was their starting lineup, you tighten things up here and there but it was more or less the same approach. But yes, I think I did get a lot out of facing their starting guys.

“It was a lot of fun to spend time again with guys I spent four quality years with. Before the game, I got to say hello to a lot of them, and they said hello to me. It was a lot of fun.”

Fun for the Red Sox will be to see just how many more outings like yesterday’s they will be able to get out of Rodriguez.

They have so much time to find out.

“Can’t say enough about Rodriguez — three easy innings, right through their order,” said split-squad skipper Torey Lovullo. “I think he answered the questions about how he’d come out here today against his former team. He did a very good job.”

The Orioles’ loss is the Red Sox’ gain.

It could become a huge one.