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.
I still don’t understand why Vaughn Grissom was sent out of town rather than kept around to complete with these clowns.
He’s quite bad defensively and they seem to be trying hard to improve the infield defense. I think that’s a big part of it. He also didn’t hit all that well in AAA last year.
Good point, Mike. I think Grissom ran his mouth and ticked-off the organization. Still, you make a good point.
This is accurate
Career stats outside of Coors park are very unimpressive
Don’t worry about this signing. Barring injuries or an amazing showing, it’s just depth for spring training. I’m still anticipating Hamilton being traded but if not, the final spots barring another trade, signing or injury are between Hamilton, Sogard and Eaton. I’m again anticipating losing Hamilton who is the worst of three defensively. Eaton has his speed and can play third/outfield and Sogard is a switch hitter.
No one is going to trade for D. Hamilton. He and Alex Cora have some kind of “bromance” going on, so the Sox won’t release him. I don’t know how many more options he has… but he’s not going anywhere. I hope I am wrong. He’s terrible.
The Red Sox received compensation for the last half dozen guys dumped off their 40-man, so inevitably they would receive something for Hamilton, even if it’s not much more than a ham sandwich. But there’s very little depth behind him, so I don’t think they’d move him at this point.
Because Hamilton ain;t worth anything
Hamilton is the 26th player on a contending club due to his speed. If it weren’t for Eaton, he’d still in my view have a role here. Come playoff time, he will be on a roster. The question though is does anyone want him now? I don’t believe he has an option left.
Hamilton does have one option year left and could also be DFA’ed without losing any sleep over it.
If everyone is healthy then Hamilton vs Eaton for the last roster spot will be an interesting one. Guessing it comes down to where Cora chooses to play his multi-positional players more than their own performances.
Both have 1 MiLB option remaining.
Side note: if the Red Sox keep one in the majors all season then they can retain the option on that player and be able to option them next season. Can be quite useful for a borderline 26-man guy.
Angels should be signing guys like this to compete with Grissom for that second base job
Christian Moore should be competing for the Angels 2B job.
Grissom has clearly shown some serious trouble with velocity. I do think they should have given him more of an opportunity, but it’s easy enough to see why they didn’t.
100%
Agree. VG would have been better than these clowns. Also agree his mouth got him trouble with organization which is why he wasn’t called up last year when they could have used him. Funny and not in a good way. Bregman at 2B and Devers at 3B last year.
All because a no-trade clause was apparently a bridge to far.
It should have been. NTCs are NBT— nothing but trouble. They absolutely boned the Cardinals last year and cost them a year on their rebuild.
… and $10 million.
Is there a new rule where you can play 2x2B at once right next to each other? Maybe that’s the strategy. Some teams like to just accrue x SS, maybe the Sox strategy is to have a 5 man infield with all 2B players. If they can coach the pitching staff to aim for a 75% GB rate, then it’ll be genius!
Casualfan – Cora would LOVE that. Then each inning move a guy to the right, kinda like the rotation of a high school gym class volleyball team
That’s the wrong Brendan
Only one that was still available though.
Not loving the offense. The Red Sox knew with absolute certainty that they needed to add at least one monster bat to their lineup and by all accounts, they’ve gotten worse. Although, I’m sure Wong and Falafel will combine for 50 to 60 home runs……..
Full seasons from Anthony and Mayer should help the offense. So too should a healthy Narvaez. Bregman to Contreras might be a wash and hopefully Story doesn’t regress, or at least not to badly
Mayer has literally never played a full season. He gets injured every year.
Rsox – this is not aimed at you at all, but i’ve been thinking about this.
Why are most fans thinking, or maybe hoping is a better term, that Contreras is a wash with Bregman’s production? First, when he was acquired the front office thought Bregman resigning was a slam dunk, so Contreras was supposed to be in addition to, not replacing Bregman. Second, new park, new league, new unforgiving environment, isnt always an easy adjustment. Third, he’s about to turn 34, not usually an age were production increases. Fourth, years of wear and tear as a catcher. Fifth, I dont know, i’m sure theres more, but, what i want to say is that we should all be cautiously optimistic but not certain that we’re going to get the best of Contreras
Sad – Until the Sox replace Wong, I still believe there’s a chance Contreras will do some catching.
As for replacing Bregman’s offense, anybody can have a good 6 week start to the season like he did. His numbers after that were quite bad.
FPG – you know I wasn’t a fan of Bregman’s, and I think his season last year was underwhelming (other than his leadership of course). I think when we mostly speak about “Bregman” it is his projections rather than his actual performance.
Sad – Agreed! Even his defense was not that good, including before the injury.
Just another example of a player living off the past.
Not certain we would have gotten the best of Bregman either.
He aint all that anymore
Mmm…falafel.
They’re not worse.
It’s a non roster invite, this signing is a back up of the back up Kiner Hamilton.
As for Rodgers, it is unclear what happened last season in Houston. The hit tool flopped, namely making contact slumped in favor a whiffing more. Was it injury? Or what, it is unclear. Maybe this is an opportunity to find a nice minor piece on the junk heap. But not going to be holding my breathe at all.
Yea I remember Rodgers was a highly touted prospect i think topping at either 6 or 3 overall..
When I woke up this morning and read this I came to an epiphany. Its not the players fault that I get enraged everytime I see a signing like this. Heck, its not even 100% Breslow’s fault.
I blame the nameless, faceless public relations people and the unnamed sources within the organization who perpetuate the “Sox are in on (everyone)”, “Boston deep in trade talks (for top players)”, and of course, “Full Throttle”.
Stop over promising and under producing Red Sox. Keep your mouths shut and go about your business, and then no one cares that we now have 6/7 second baseman.
If this lying, bragadocious behavior is hiw they operate all the time, no wonder Devers was livid and Bregman walked.
Serenity Now
Sad – Sometimes people here insist the Red Sox don’t dumpster dive any more than any other team does.
Well let’s take a look at recent articles ….
Feb 5 Rodgers
Feb 4 IKF
Feb 4 Gasper
Feb 3 Keller
Feb 2 Nittoli
Jan 31 Thaiss
I don’t see NEARLY as many of these signings with other teams.
So I guess the question is, do the Red Sox dumpster dive more than most teams?
Or are the other teams dumpster diving simply not reported?
And yeah, I agree with you all the “interest in” and “checking in” articles about the Red Sox is total deception. That’s what they do, that’s who they are …. total con artists.
FPG – I think you’re spot on. To that end, I think its a combination of both. Every whisper they put up about the Sox gets 500 replies, so its self serving.
More sadly however, is the constant movement due to the lack of a cohesive plan to construct a championship roster. I dont know if you saw, but I went through Breslow’s trading history. His short tenure has produced 51 trades involving 74 players. That doesnt even include the constant churn of minor league “depth” signings. Who does this? Its almost like an insecure employee justifying his job to his boss, “see Mr. Henry, I’m doing all this stuff…..”
But to qualify so I dont get crushed, great job on the starting pitching front!
Sad – It’s like two peas in a podcast, as Cora does the exact same thing …. constantly overmanaging, constantly moving players all over the field, constantly pulling pitchers ….. I totally agree Cora is trying to justify his massive contract.
Breslmao
This move is to hedge bets. Shows you what the front office really thinks of the in house options.
Bobby – isnt that funny since this front office is the one that brought in all those other options?
For all those Breslow apologists out there that say by waiting he gets the best value and possibly even discounts, look at this heap of mess at second base. More often than not when you are reactive rather than setting your market you get the scraps.
Again, there is no plan. Breslow throwing darts and seeing what sticks. This approach won’t get it done in the AL East. Red Sox needed to sign Alonso and re-sign Bregman, then Mayer and Romy could have platooned at 2B and it would be a formidable lineup, a legit World Series contender when such a lineup is paired with a great rotation.
Instead, we get lineup additions of Contreras, IKF, and Brendan Rodgers (but I’m guessing Rodgers won’t make the Opening Day roster and is an emergency Spring-injury backup solution). Its sad that such a deep and great rotation won’t be supported by an equally good lineup. This team could have been so much more in 2026.
2B has been an unaddressed void ever since Pedey’s knee injury nine(!) years ago. This is a team with annual revenues over $500 million. Breslow can do a lot better to solve 2B than mindlessly raiding the spare parts bin, but I’m guessing that ownership drew an uncrossable arbitrary $$ line in the sand for any further roster additions beyond Suarez. I like Ranger Suarez, but with the rotation as deep as it is, I can’t help but wonder if a better choice to allocate that spending would have been one of the infield needs (at 2B or 3B).
Thirdbaseman – YOU ARE DEAD ON!!!! I couldnt agree more.
The ownership $$ threshold is a crutch, that people (including Brelsow) use to defend this trash.
Signing Sandoval two years ago, if you know you have this fiscal red line is indefensible. Add up the 2026 salaries of Sandoval, Contreras, IKF = $38m +, How many legitimate targets could we have signed for less than that?
The ChiSox will trot out a better lineup on a daily basis than BoSox will in 2026. No doubt about it
Bargain bin shopping again for Breslow. His wife must love the gifts he gets her
With spring training starting next week are you good with this starting lineup?
Anthony LF
Story SS
Duran DH
Contreras 1B
Abreau RF
Narvaez C
Mayer 3b
Kiner-Falefa 2b
Rafaela CF
BoSox just keep on giving to the AL East. They’ll be at best a 4th place team in the East.
WHERES DA BEEF?
Random fact. Mr Rodgers and Jason Heyward share a birthday 7 years apart. Not the actual friendly Mister Rogers.