The Red Sox reached agreement with free agent second baseman Brendan Rodgers on a minor league contract, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The Boras Corporation client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.
Boston is seemingly taking a volume approach to second base because they didn’t come away with an impact player on the trade front. Isiah Kiner-Falefa is the presumptive starter after agreeing to a $6MM deal last night. Romy Gonzalez will get a decent amount of playing time against left-handed pitching, while David Hamilton and Nick Sogard are in the mix as utility pieces.
Rodgers becomes their most experienced non-roster possibility. The 29-year-old infielder has played over six years in the majors. The third overall pick in 2015 by the Rockies, he was Colorado’s primary second baseman from 2021-24. Rodgers won a Gold Glove in ’22 thanks to a spike in his Defensive Runs Saved total. He has otherwise graded as an average defender. The righty hitter had a couple league average showings at the plate early in his career, but his production has fallen over the past three years.
The Rockies non-tendered Rodgers after the ’24 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Astros and made the Opening Day roster. Rodgers stuck on the roster all year but only hit .191/.266/.278 with two home runs over 43 games. Injuries kept him from appearing in an MLB game after the middle of June. He went down with an oblique strain, then suffered a concussion in an on-field collision during a minor league rehab game. Rodgers tried to ramp back up in August but dealt with back discomfort that shut him down for the year.
Rodgers has a .254/.307/.384 batting line in more than 800 plate appearances over the last three seasons. He’s also held back by a lack of defensive versatility, not having played anywhere other than second base since 2021. That’s not a problem if he’s hitting enough to play every day, but that’s a difficult profile to carry on a four-man bench. While Boston’s second base spot is thin enough that it’s not out of the question Rodgers wins the job, the recent returns haven’t been encouraging.
As a player with six years of service time who finished last season on Houston’s major league injured list, Rodgers hit the market as an Article XX(b) free agent. That means this deal comes with a trio of automatic opt-out dates under the collective bargaining agreement. He can trigger an out clause on any of March 22, May 1, or June 1. If he does, the Red Sox would have two days to either promote him or grant him his release. It’s therefore not a given that he’d report to Triple-A if he doesn’t break camp.
