With Jose Iglesias likely outplaying a return to Queens, the Mets could look at the recently-DFA’d Rodgers.
The Mets, at the time of this writing, have their hands full fishing for the Moby Dick of free agents in Juan Soto. On top of looking to bolster the core of their offense after a surprise NLCS appearance, they need some help on the back end of their offense, too. With Jose Iglesias hiring Scott Boras and likely playing his way into a starting role somewhere and the difficult seasons for most of the Mets’ upper minor league bats, the team has space for some bench players who can be called upon to start if injury strikes, and Brendan Rodgers would be a good fit for that.
Rodgers was a surprise free agent, as the Colorado Rockies non-tendered him instead of offering him a contract in arbitration. He has had an up and down career after getting drafted third overall in the 2015 draft, highlighted by his 2021 and 2022 seasons. In 2021 he hit .284/.328/.470 (98 wRC+) with a 1.2 fWAR in 102 games, and in 2022 he hit .266/.325/.408 (94 wRC+), earning a 1.8 fWAR and a Gold Glove at second base in 137 games. He was limited to just 46 games in 2023, and struggled in 2024, earning just a 0.8 fWAR in 135 games, hitting .267/.314/.407 (88 wRC+).
While none of these numbers are to write home about, they would also be useful to the Mets in their current predicament. As the roster stands today—before the Winter Meetings, where the offseason really starts in earnest—the bench needs some help. According to FanGraphs’ Roster Resource depth charts, the bench consists of: backup catcher Luis Torrens, Jose Siri, recently claimed on waivers Luis De Los Santos — who is 26 and has a whopping 31 major league plate appearances—and Luke Ritter, who is a soon-to-be 28-year-old who has yet to make his big league debut. While both Ritter and De Los Santos are interesting, and may even see some games in 2025, the bench absolutely needs reliability on it on the infield side, which is where someone like Rodgers comes in.
On top of that, the starting infield is in a bit of flux, too. Francisco Lindor is the Mets’ best player, and he can be penciled in for 162 games because he absolutely refuses to take a game off. They currently do not have a starting first baseman, and that could very easily be their starting third baseman in Mark Vientos. Jeff McNeil will almost certainly be back to be the starting second baseman, but he has had injury issues in the past, and the last two years have seen him struggle to the tune of a 99 wRC+ combined.
To further add to their need at infield, their upper minor league infield prospects had rough seasons. Luisangel Acuña was great in his short stint in the bigs last year after McNeil went down with a broken wrist, hitting .308/.325/.641(!!!), good for a 166 wRC+. That .641 slugging percentage seems like a huge outlier from his minor league career, as his previous career high was an .483 slugging in High-A back when he was a Texas Rangers prospect. His .333 ISO in the majors is nearly double his minor league career high of .138. He was outright bad in Triple-A before the call-up, hitting .258/.299/.355 (69 wRC+). While I think Acuña has a future as a major league super utility player, I do not think it would be a bad idea to bring in some competition for the bench and see how it shakes out in the spring. Jett Williams, one of the Mets top prospects, played 33 games last season while struggling with injury, so it is hard to expect anything from him in the early portion of the 2025 season.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle in signing someone like Rodgers is convincing him to take a bench role. While I think he is likely to play a lot as the Mets’ top infield backup, he has been a locked-in starter in Colorado when healthy. Rodgers has played a whopping 411 off his 435 defensive appearances at second base, but he was drafted as a shortstop and has played roughly 200 innings of third base, so he could probably figure out moving to a more utility role. It is entirely possible that a rebuilding team gives him a one-year deal to rebuild some value as a starter, which would be a perfect marriage for him and that team. However, if he is willing to move to a bench role, he could be a perfect fit for a team that is trying to win a World Series.