Ex-Rockies Gold Glove winner Rodgers finally finds a team
Feb 18, 2025, 10:09 PM | Updated: 10:16 pm
(Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
Brendan Rodgers is set to report for spring training, although with hardly the type of deal he would have hoped to find when hitting free agency this offseason.
The former Colorado Rockies second baseman agreed to a 1-year contract with the Houston Astros, pending his passing a physical. Ari Alexander of KPRC-Ch. 2 in Houston first reported the deal. It’s a minor-league contract that gives Rodgers an invitation to the Astros’ major-league camp, but from there he will have to earn his way onto the roster.
The Rockies parted ways with Rodgers in November, opting not to issue him a tender, meaning that he would leave without the potential for draft-pick compensation if he signed elsewhere. That proved to be the right choice — at least among the decisions that involved potentially losing him — as he lingered on the market for nearly three months.
The minor-league deal was the best that Rodgers could do after a star-crossed 10 seasons in the Rockies organization, which began when he was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Rodgers signed a contract with a $5.5 million bonus and worked his way up through the organization, finally making his major-league debut in 2019. But once he made it to the big club, good health mostly eluded him.
He played just seven of a possible 60 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season due to a right-shoulder injury. A hamstring injury impacted him a year later.
The 2022 campaign saw his best work — and his best health. He played in a career-high 137 games and earned the National League’s Gold Glove for second basemen. But in the spring training that followed, Rodgers suffered a left-shoulder injury that sidelined him for the first four months of the season.
Rodgers returned in 2024 and played in 135 games as Colorado’s everyday second baseman. But with prospect Adael Amador rising through the ranks, the Rockies opted to turn the page, signing Kyle Farmer as a potential bridge option just after not tendering Rodgers in November.
