The Red Sox have sent reliever Joely Rodríguez outright to Triple-A Worcester, tweets MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. Boston had designated the left-hander for assignment over the weekend.
Rodríguez signed a minor league deal with the Sox over the offseason. Boston carried him on the Opening Day roster to keep him from opting out and retesting free agency. That didn’t work as the team hoped, as he surrendered 12 runs (eight earned) over 11 innings. Rodríguez ran an 11:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and induced grounders on over 55% of batted balls, but the Red Sox clearly weren’t overly bullish on his chance to get back on track.
It is the second straight season in which Rodríguez struggled over an 11-inning stint for Boston. Oblique, shoulder and hip injuries kept him to just 11 appearances a year ago. Rodríguez also allowed eight earned runs in that season, which came on the heels of a $2MM major league free agent deal. He divided the 2021-22 seasons between the Rangers and the two New York franchises, combining for a 4.56 ERA across 107 appearances.
Rodríguez has the requisite three years of major league service to decline an outright assignment, but he has not crossed the five-year threshold necessary to retain his salary if he does so. If Rodríguez accepts the assignment, he’ll join Lucas Luetge as a veteran non-roster southpaw in Worcester. Boston has Brennan Bernardino and Cam Booser in the big league bullpen. They acquired Bailey Horn from the White Sox earlier this week. He’s on the 40-man but was immediately optioned to Worcester and hasn’t yet pitched in the big leagues.
Is Rodriguez the most popular name in MLB history?
Definitely not Joley.
Maybe, or something like Smith or Johnson since the early days it was just a bunch of white dudes.
Ya doesn’t have to call me Johnson.
Wow that’s going back to the seventies. Call me Ray, call me RJ, call me Ray Jay Jr….
Joely Throttle
Maybe just release him then?? Seems like most other guys on the team can pitch well, if you get the same results two years in a row, why continue??
Hey NATION … help OLM out here…. Watching a game a couple of days ago.. 9th inning.. Mrs Brais walks by and says WTF when did WE get HIM back!!! Confused I say WHO?? I say we couldn’t get him back if we traded them Raffie and ate 90% of his salary… to her response… You’d make that deal!!! Now I’m pissed.. I say not on my life!! 80% is as high as I would go… point being… SLATEN looks like someone I know???
English?
Don’t be silly Álex English played basketball….
What the…I don’t even….what?
Did olmtiant just refer to himself in the third person? Lol
I love me some me???
I used to get snookered on Thursdays too. Weekends were for amateurs lol.
Gary … you seem like a chum to throw a few back with… any chance you saw a 80’s movie Barfly?? ( Mickey Rouke) yup I was close to that….thank goodness for the Redsox to keep me grounded!!!lol
Lol love it. I don’t quite remember that movie but there were plenty that were similar. We’re on the same page bro.
So how bad is it that Olm’s post made sense to me?
God bless Gas and the USA!!! By my moniker.. once I hook into something El Tiante.. I can’t let go… Brais will be retired or released and I’ll still think of him as Mariano 2.0…
Are they sure no one claimed him? Can they double check.
Hilarious. 10 thumbs up if I could.
Better question is, instead of clogging up AAA, couldn’t they at least give it a try to send him down to low-a ball, maybe make him want to give up the money to go elsewhere?
Yeah, I don’t know, I think they have guys in A ball they’re trying to develop.
What do you think?
Icon:
A+ Greenville have relievers in Bolden (later round ’22 pick signed for 7,500 with fringe control/command and lacks any plus projected offerings, viewed as minors org filler at this point), Landry (late round ’22 pick, 3 below average pitches with his hardest being a 91mph fastball, and a frame thats been said to have no further projection for improvement to gain strength), Bonnin (’20 pick by Reds, couldnt advance beyond a-level before not playing due to injury in ’23, arguably the best potential of those im listing here but thats not saying much, command was always a problem. Really at a makenor break point soon) all at 25+ years of age.
A Salem has Steinbaugh (undrafted, didnt even play any baseball in ’23 after independent ball in ’22, scouts say hes maxed out physically with low 90s FB), Kirwin (undrafted, played in draft league in ’23, high effort delivery who is a major project low probability of making it guy), and Sansone (undrafted, later played 2 years in rookie and a-ball before bounching out to pioneer league, projected to act as deoth in a minor league roster as his ceiling) all at 24+ years of age.
I honestly think all of those guys are expendable place holders who are there due to the poor state bloom left the minors in re: pitchers worth developing, amd, would be surprised to see them return next year unless they see a massive and unexpected improvement.
Dumping any one of them to kick joely down to give a more deserving guy a AAA-slot where the other player may actually grow into something is well worth it. Not only are they pretty old to be in a-ball, they don’t even have a good excuse for being where they are like song has for example. They’re still where they are because of their lack of ability/growth thus far, and, because bloom was so utterly bad at bringing enough pitching prospects of value to the farm system.
Hope we don’t see him at Fenway ever again.