Red Sox Sign Former Gold Glove Winner to Minor League Contract
When your offseason plan is “collect infielders like expired coupons,” you might be the 2026 Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox continue their daring, forward-thinking, galaxy-brain offseason strategy of signing guys other teams already gave up on and then acting surprised when fans aren’t throwing parades down Lansdowne Street.
One day after the club proudly rolled out Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a one-year, $6 million deal — a move that already had Sox fans checking their calendars to make sure it wasn’t April 1st — Boston followed it up by signing Brendan Rodgers to a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to spring training.
Yes.
This is real.
No, it’s not a parody account.
According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, the Red Sox have now added two right-handed infielders in 48 hours, both of whom come with résumés that read less like “offensive solution” and more like “depth chart footnote.”
And this is all supposedly happening in the wake of losing Alex Bregman — an actual, real, productive major league hitter — to free agency.
Let’s get into it.
The Brendan Rodgers Sales Pitch (Such As It Is)
Rodgers is 29 years old and has spent the bulk of his career with the Colorado Rockies, a franchise that plays half its games in the most hitter-friendly park on Earth and still looked at him and said, “Nah, we’re good.”
Career totals?
47 home runs
96 doubles
Seven MLB seasons
A whole lot of injuries
And a bat that has gone missing more often than Red Sox payroll flexibility
Yes, Rodgers did win a Gold Glove in 2022, which will absolutely be referenced 400 times between now and Opening Day. That season, he hit .266 with 30 doubles, 13 homers, and 63 RBI — a perfectly respectable year that front offices love to point at while ignoring everything that’s happened since.
Because here’s the part they conveniently whisper:
Rodgers’ defense has regressed sharply, to the point where even the “but he’s a glove guy” crowd has gone quiet. And the bat? Over 43 games with the Astros in 2025, he slashed .191 with an OPS south of .600.
That’s not a slump.
That’s a cry for help.
The Injury Résumé Nobody Asked For
Rodgers’ MLB journey reads like a medical chart:
Oblique strain
Concussion during a minor league rehab game
Back discomfort
Shut down for the season
The Rockies non-tendered him after 2024 — which, translated from front-office speak, means “we would rather get nothing than keep paying you.”
Houston took a flyer.
It didn’t work.
Now Boston has the clipboard.
And yes, he’ll get a chance to “prove himself” in spring training, which is baseball code for “we needed another body to stand near second base while the real decisions are delayed.”
Depth Is Not a Plan (No Matter How Many Times You Say It)
Let’s be very clear: organizational depth is fine. Necessary, even.
But when depth is the headline, you’ve already lost the plot.
The Red Sox entered this offseason needing:
A legitimate middle-of-the-order bat
Infield stability
A replacement for Alex Bregman’s production
What they’ve added instead:
Kiner-Falefa (a glove-first utility guy with league-average offense on his best day)
Rodgers (a former Gold Glove winner whose bat and body are both in decline)
This is not roster construction.
This is roster insurance.
And insurance is great — after you’ve bought the house.
The Front Office Spin Cycle Is Working Overtime
You can already hear the talking points:
“Versatility”
“Competition”
“Low risk”
“Upside”
And sure, a minor league deal is technically low risk. But it’s also low ambition, especially when paired with the broader context of this offseason.
The Red Sox didn’t just miss out on elite bats.
They didn’t just pivot late.
They’ve actively leaned into safe, replaceable, non-impact players and tried to sell it as strategy.
Fans aren’t mad because Brendan Rodgers exists.
They’re mad because this is what passes for a move.
The Alex Bregman Elephant in the Room
You don’t replace Alex Bregman with:
A utility infielder
A minor league flyer
And a PowerPoint about “run prevention”
You replace him with offense.
With certainty.
With someone opposing pitchers actually have to think about.
Instead, the Red Sox have built an infield that looks like it was assembled by sorting free agents by “Available After February.”
Final Verdict: This Is a Joke, Actually
Brendan Rodgers on a minor league deal is not, by itself, the end of the world.
But in context — paired with Kiner-Falefa, paired with the lack of real offensive additions, paired with the ongoing refusal to spend like a serious contender — it becomes emblematic of the entire problem.
This isn’t bold.
It’s not clever.
It’s not sneaky value.
It’s doing just enough to say you did something, while hoping fans confuse motion with progress.
Spring training is coming.
The roster is what it is.
And once again, Red Sox fans are being asked to squint really hard and imagine upside.