Yeah, obviously Soto was younger (and even better, he clowned the low minors in an insane fashion), but Rodriguez's dominance has really been something to behold. It's still only a 31-game sample size, but a 199 wRC+ with elite BB and K rates and very good power speaks for itself.
I don't want to veer us back down the service time manipulation roundabout argument, but I will say that I think on merit, Rodriguez absolutely deserves the late season cup of coffee. It's hard to get too far into that without opening the can of worms as to whether that is simply a reward that shouldn't indicate anything about making the roster in 2023 or not, but Cherington's front office has demonstrated that that's what they are willing to do.
With Rodriguez, there is likely going to be additional cover for keeping him in AAA because of his position, and I'm not absolutely going to pound the table that he should make the team out of camp because that is an important long-term consideration. However, the version of the anti-service time manipulation argument that I'd give today is that for a real potential 3-4+ WAR player, especially at a valuable position, a team should both want to (1) above all else, prioritize how they get to that potential as quickly and firmly as possible; and (2) make that player part of the long-term core, i.e., extend them and worry about exact ST clocks even less.
Put differently, I'd rather see the front office take the cynical path with a bat-only supplementary type player in Gonzales. He's a better player to try and secure for dirt cheap pre-arb years and then move on from as he gets more expensive. The same might even be able to be said regarding pitching prospects, given how much risk there is with them.
But if you really believe that Rodriguez's bat can contribute to the point of being a backup C/super utility 2.5-3 win player next year, then arbitrarily holding him in AAA until July is an anti-winning strategy, full stop. Maybe there's a more palatable and slightly less cynical argument to bump him down there for 4-6 weeks, but the new CBA is in a sense more strongly aimed at this kind of half measure, because any prospect who might be good enough to make a quality impact can still easily put themselves in the ROY race if they come up in May.
Ultimately, I would just rather be focused on what the best thing to do with Endy is. It would be a breath of fresh air to extend him this winter and then let merit and true developmental assessment decide the question in the spring and early season. But watching him regularly, he's just been so good for so long, while also having the ability to play multiple positions, that it's hard not to dream a little bit on having Perez back to mentor him in MLB while he rotates in at DH, 2B, and RF on off days. If everyone stays healthy, Castro is for real, and you go spend modestly for Haniger or Mancini, then the offense is suddenly fairly decent.
