The Red Sox designated Jake Rogers for assignment on Tuesday, ending his run with the club just eight days after he arrived in the Aug. 3 trade that brought Adley Rutschman to Boston.
That move matters because it trims one of the catchers added in the deal and makes the roster choice plain: Boston is moving forward with Rutschman and Connor Wong, not Rogers. The return package for the Orioles included Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Enddy Azocar and Carlos Narváez, a hefty haul for a trade that was already under a microscope when it was made.
Rogers had been designated for assignment by the Detroit Tigers just a few days before the trade, then landed with the Orioles before ending up with the Red Sox. He typically caught Tarik Skubal over the past few seasons, though that connection had faded over the past few months. In Boston, he was the extra catcher in a crowded picture, while Wong already had a lot of familiarity with the Red Sox pitching staff.
That is the part that explains the choice. The Red Sox viewed Wong as the safer option while trying to win the World Series and the division, and that gives Tuesday’s move its edge. Rogers was part of a headline trade on Aug. 3, but the club did not need long to decide he was the piece it could move off first.
What remains open is the next roster step. Designating Rogers for assignment removes him from the active mix, but it does not answer who fills his spot if Boston makes another move. For now, the message is simple enough: the Red Sox have already narrowed the catching group, and Rogers was the odd man out.
