Article: What Do The Red Sox See In Joely Rodriguez?

[Adam Morgan]

It's hard to figure out what the front office likes about left-handed pitcher Joely Rodriguez.

When left-hander Joely Rodriguez broke camp with the Red Sox, it was a surprise to fans and beat writers alike. After a pedestrian in 2023 with the club, where he had a 6.55 ERA and a 4.71 FIP, he managed a mediocre to bad pre-season. The most surprising part was that breaking camp with Rodriguez meant that Brennan Bernardino started the year in Worcester. Needless to say, by April 28th, Rodriguez had been designated for assignment, and Bernardino had been recalled.

The Red Sox had to designate Rodriguez to get him off the roster, and with his bloated 6.55 ERA through 11 appearances (that’s right, the same ERA as 2023), it was easy to pass him through waivers. He accepted an outright assignment and was put on the minor league injured list until late June.

That made August 23rd’s selection of Joely Rodríguez’s contract so perplexing. The aforementioned Bernardino is already a reliable lefty in the pen, posting a 3.97 FIP over 42.2 IP. In his first outing, Rodriguez brought his ERA up to 6.94. Of lefties that have pitched at least ten innings, Rodriguez’s is 10th worst. Of the nine pitchers ahead of him on the list, seven of them are currently in the minor leagues. The only two southpaws with worse ERAs than Rodriguez that are still in the majors are no longer with the teams they started the season with; the Blue Jays released Tim Mayza before being signed as a free agent by the Yankees in July, and the Texas Rangers waived Brock Burke before being picked by the Angels.

So, the Red Sox are the only team willing to give a lefty a second chance while performing as badly as Rodriguez has. It might make you wonder, “What do the Red Sox see in Rodriguez?” Under the hood, he has a 5.40 FIP, so he has performed slightly better than he did at 6.94 ERA. His 8.4 K/9 this year is the 77th-best mark for a left out of 163 lefties with over ten innings. Maybe most impressively, his 1.5 BB/9 is 10th best for lefties. The most damning piece of evidence is his 2.31 HR/9. That makes him the 8th worst southpaw at keeping the ball in the yard. It makes you wonder if Rodriguez should walk more guys if it meant he gave up fewer home runs.

With lefties Rich Hill and Cam Booser expected to join the big club over the next month, Rodriguez might not be long for the roster. If the Red Sox need to remove him, he will again need to be designated for assignment because he is out of options. If he clears waivers, the Fenway faithful will have to hold their breath to see if Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and company decide to option him to Triple-A Worcester to keep him in the organization. The Sox’s continued fascination with Rodriguez means that he might be serving up meatballs in Boston for years.

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