Red Sox bring back Joely Rodriguez on minor-league deal

The Red Sox have brought back veteran reliever Joely Rodriguez on a minor-league contract, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The deal comes with an invite to major-league spring training.

Rodriguez, who was present at the Fenway South complex in Fort Myers on Thursday morning, will not count against Boston’s 40-man roster but will have the opportunity to make the club’s Opening Day roster out of camp next month.

“Excited for him. We know health is a priority for him,” said Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who confirmed the pending signing of Rodriguez to MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam. “He’s got electric stuff. He’s around here getting his physical done. Excited to meet him. I know he’s a loud, boisterous personality and a good guy to have around so we’re excited to have him back here.”

Rodriguez, 32, returns to the Red Sox after originally signing a one-year, $2 million contract with an option for 2024 in November 2022. The left-hander was Boston’s first free agent addition that winter, though the contract he ultimately signed was “a re-worked version of a previously agreed-upon deal that was revised once balky medicals came back,” according to Cotillo.

Like trade addition Richard Bleier, who came over from the Marlins in January, Rodrigue was supposed to provide manager Alex Cora with an experienced left-handed option out of the bullpen. He was instead plagued by injury issues throughout the year and posted a career-worst 6.55 ERA (4.71 FIP) with 14 strikeouts to six walks over 11 appearances spanning just 11 innings of relief.

Rodriguez began the 2023 campaign on the injured list after suffering a right oblique strain in a Grapefruit League outing. As a result, he did not make his Red Sox debut until May 17 and struggled immensely out of the gate, surrendering nine runs (eight earned) in his first five appearances (four innings) of the season. He then hit the injured list again because of left shoulder inflammation in early June and did not return to the big-league mound until July 9.

Upon returning to action with Boston, Rodriguez strung together six straight scoreless outings in which he recorded nine strikeouts and zero walks over seven effective innings. Unfortunately, he sustained a hip injury in late July that wound up ending his season prematurely. The Red Sox then declined the club option they held over Rodriguez in November.

As noted by Cotillo, the Red Sox are thin when it comes to left-handed relief options. Brennan Bernardino, who stood out last season after being claimed off waivers from the Mariners in April, Joe Jacques, Chris Murphy, and Brandon Walter are the only lefties currently on Boston’s 40-man roster.

Externally, Rodriguez is slated to join fellow non-roster invitees Jorge Benitez, Cam Booser, Lucas Luetge, and Helcris Olivarez as lefty relievers competing for a spot in the Sox’ bullpen to begin the 2024 season.

“We’ve got to get lefties out. You can’t ever have enough lefties,” Bailey told McAdam, noting that the Rodriguez signing was about adding depth. “There was an opportunity from the front office to sign him and we jumped at it.”