Brewers trade for Hunter Renfroe in exchange for Jackie Bradley Jr., David Hamilton and Alex Binelas

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

So, with the work stoppage, I’d this trade able to be finalized or does it have to wait until any freeze is over?

 

The Brewers did officially announce it last night, so I would think it's a done deal.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I would’ve preferred dealing from a surplus rather than from a position that is lacking. I don’t mind dealing Hamilton because we’re very deep in the middle IF position. The same can’t be said about Binelas and 1B/3B.

 

Binelas, IMO, has basically no shot at playing 3B defensively in the majors, so change that to 1B/DH - while that has been a position of weakness in the Brewers' organization, it's also a spot that TONS of options are routinely available each offseason to be acquired on the cheap at the MLB level without needing a pipeline of power hitting 1B prospects in the minor leagues. And until the NL makes things official and actually has a DH there's not a good reason to stockpile thumpers in the system who can only play 1B defensively. It's obvious DS doesn't put a premium on having a stud everyday 1B on the roster with both drafting and free agency/trades - particularly compared to having a roster full of players with positional versatility that could all play 1B in a pinch if they are hitting well and need to stick in the lineup.

 

For the 1B discussion at the MLB level in 2022 and beyond along with the hope to improve production against LHP, a guy who's going to get another extended shot as a platoon mate for Tellez is Hiura provided he doesn't get traded later this offseason.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Fear The Chorizo

[mtrebs]

So, with the work stoppage, I’d this trade able to be finalized or does it have to wait until any freeze is over?

 

The Brewers did officially announce it last night, so I would think it's a done deal.

 

That’s true, they did actually post it on their social media, which typically they hold off on until it’s finalized. Normally that just takes a few days. I wasn’t sure if there’s physicals or anything that need to be done.

[Lostpawn]

I’m just glad I can finally change the autocorrect on my phone. “JBJ” will no longer correct to “why does CC keep letting this guy hit?!?!”

 

Now I’m gonna have to replace that slot. I’m thinking I’ll replace “yeli” with “Seriously? $26MM for yet another roller to the right?”

 

Other suggestions are welcome.

[WV Brew]

For those of you talking about Seager, he already signed a 10 year deal with Texas. Renfroe hit OBP of .341 at Fenway and only .287 on the road. That doesn't bode well. He is past his prime by age so little chance of improvement. OPS .870 at Fenway and .761 on the road. The road guy is likely the one the Brewers will get.

[markedman5]

For those of you talking about Seager, he already signed a 10 year deal with Texas. Renfroe hit OBP of .341 at Fenway and only .287 on the road. That doesn't bode well. He is past his prime by age so little chance of improvement. OPS .870 at Fenway and .761 on the road. The road guy is likely the one the Brewers will get.

 

They are talking about the other Seager......

[reillymcshane]

For those of you talking about Seager, he already signed a 10 year deal with Texas.

They are talking about Kyle Seager - the 3B recently of the Mariners. Not Corey Seager.

 

Kyle Seager hit 35 HR last year - albeit with a .212 BA.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

For those of you talking about Seager, he already signed a 10 year deal with Texas.

 

Not that one, the other one. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/seageky01.shtml.

[Jopal78]

While it's cool the Brewers freed up 10 million dollars or so in payroll, its hard to get excited about Hunter Renfroe.

 

As mentioned before he's now on his 4th team in 4 years. Despite a healthy career slugging percentage of .490 (in fact a better career SLG% than everyone on last year's Brewers team) and years of team control remaining 3 organizations moved on from him. In today's game the fact that someone swings a power bat and doesn't do anything else particularly well isn't all that valuable. After all Chris Carter hit at a .222/.321/.499 clip for the Brewers and found himself non-tendered and out of major league baseball 60 games later.

 

The other thing is while Renfroe mashes LHP, as currently constructed the NL Central features almost exclusively right handed starting pitching. Wade Miley, Kwan Hyung Kim and Matz are the only lefty starters currently in the Division. Therefore, with an unbalanced schedule, in most games the Brewers are going to see a right handed starter where Renfroe's career marks are text book definition of average.

 

Maybe the other shoe will drop and the Brewers will acquire a real hitting talent, otherwise I get the feeling that this is just a salary dump and they're left hoping for best case scenario production from an established mediocre player.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Jopal78!

[PeaveyFury]

And Renfroe might put up a 2-3 WAR season or he might regress to his replacement level 2020 performance.

 

His WAR was ~2.5 in three of the last four seasons. The fourth was the COVID-shortened and all-around weird 2020 season, as you noted. 2020 appears to be the clear outlier, while 2.5 would be a realistic expectation.

[Soupbone]

How many of you believe that the free agent frenzy of the pre lockout was overdone? There may be some bargains coming when things open up again. Schwarber might be a reach but Rizzo, Soler, Seager, Conforto etc. will have a much lower price tag. Add in the DH and its easier to see room for AB's for another power hitter.

[brewers888]

This is not a deal for a real difference maker that this lineup desperately needs but Renfroe fits the team better than Bradley even if Jackie improves his offense next season. Hopefully we use the savings for an even better hitter and Binelas doesn't have us regretting the deal but we had to get rid of Bradley and his awful contract.

[Underachiever]

I'm a pretty big optimist as a Brewers fan. I like the Renfroe signing. I have not been a prospect-hugger since the late 80s when the Brewers had too many good first basemen in the system (Robidoux, Pyznarski, Adduci were all going to be stars!). That said, the one thing I don't understand is people talking about players on the current roster cycling through the DH spot. Yelich, Cain, Taylor, Tellez, Vogelbach (RIP), etc. They seem a little light on the "H" part of that. None of the batters on last year's roster excite me as a DH.

[clancyphile]

I kind of like the idea of signing Kyle Seager, moving Urias to 2B and trading Kolton Wong.

 

Better idea:

Sign Kyle Seagar as the primary 3B against lefties (Urias is there against righties), have Urias spell Adames at short once a week or so, and also have him cover second for Wong if he needs a day off.

 

Yes, I like the idea of Urias being a super-utility player, bouncing between 3B and 2B to keep him in the lineup often. I don’t want to see Wong traded if possible as his defense is amazing and I believe his contract is pretty favorable to the Brewers.

 

I think it's possible to get Urias at least 70-80 starts between off days. Part of me thinks it would make sense to see if he could handle some 1B or LF to help on that front, and maybe to also do the same with Wong (particularly in CF) if it can make room for Turang.

[SRB]

Any suggestion that Renfroe alone is not enough of an offensive upgrade makes little sense in the context of this thread/trade. The alternative, who we traded away, was Jackie Bradley Jr.! Unless you were hoping for Binelas to become the everyday DH out of spring training and hit .300/.400/.500 to win RoY, as it sounds like many on here were.

 

This has no effect on other potential moves. If anything it makes another addition more likely by actually saving us money.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Any suggestion that Renfroe alone is not enough of an offensive upgrade makes little sense in the context of this thread/trade. The alternative, who we traded away, was Jackie Bradley Jr.! Unless you were hoping for Binelas to become the everyday DH out of spring training and hit .300/.400/.500 to win RoY, as it sounds like many on here were.

 

This has no effect on other potential moves. If anything it makes another addition more likely by actually saving us money.

 

I think the part people aren't excited about is a) it's more or less a wash with Garcia gone and b) we had to do it to undo signing JBJ in the first place. But that's over and done, you have to move forward and improve the team. And yeah, sometimes that's correcting your mistake.

[narwhalattack]

I mean, even with the money saved we’re more likely to focus on getting more light-hitting utility players or 4th outfielders, which we likely would’ve done anyway regardless of whether we dump JBJ or not. While it is nice to no longer see JBJ be the automatic out, I doubt the money saved will be that significant.

[SRB]

Any suggestion that Renfroe alone is not enough of an offensive upgrade makes little sense in the context of this thread/trade. The alternative, who we traded away, was Jackie Bradley Jr.! Unless you were hoping for Binelas to become the everyday DH out of spring training and hit .300/.400/.500 to win RoY, as it sounds like many on here were.

 

This has no effect on other potential moves. If anything it makes another addition more likely by actually saving us money.

 

I think the part people aren't excited about is a) it's more or less a wash with Garcia gone and b) we had to do it to undo signing JBJ in the first place. But that's over and done, you have to move forward and improve the team. And yeah, sometimes that's correcting your mistake.

 

Understandable, but that's why I am so baffled by the reaction to this trade. When I saw the trade news I almost fell out of my chair and expected this to be the most celebratory thread in Brewers history, because we did not simply eat Bradley's salary, but somehow got rid of him for a solid everyday OF who will likely hit 30+ HR for us while miraculously saving money! It's incredible.

 

There's no reason to be mad about the Bradley contract anymore, because Stearns managed to get rid of it. Disappointment that Bradley was ever signed in the first place has little relevance to this trade/thread, in my opinion.

[PeaveyFury]

it's more or less a wash with Garcia gone

 

This is definitely right. But, they cleared a bad contract to essentially eliminate the need to acquire a specific replacement for Garcia's output. With the excess cash, they can now acquire a bat as an addition that they wouldn't have been able to before.

[sveumrules]

That said, the one thing I don't understand is people talking about players on the current roster cycling through the DH spot. Yelich, Cain, Taylor, Tellez, Vogelbach (RIP), etc. They seem a little light on the "H" part of that. None of the batters on last year's roster excite me as a DH.

 

There just aren't enough legit DH calibre bats out there for 15 teams (much less 30) so most teams employ some sort of rotation. Last year only Cruz & Ohtani topped 500 PAs as a DH, with JD Martinez, Giancarlo Stanton, Yordan Alvarez & Franmil Reyes the only guys in the 400 PAs range.

 

I would imagine the majority of games Taylor & Cain play will be in the OF since they are both plus defenders. Of guys currently on the roster I'd expect Tellez, Yelich, maybe Renfroe in the mix with Hiura as a bounceback candidadte plus whoever else they pick up once the offseason resumes.

[reillymcshane]

I am generally a person who believes in building from within, so I tend to like prospects. Hamilton was interesting, but his skillset limits his upside. Binelas is fascinating because of his power - but I'm concerned about his ability to make enough contact against better pitching. If I was betting, I'd wager he's more likely to be a big bust rather than a successful regular major leaguer.

 

All that said, giving up a power bat is not ideal. Still, you have to give something to get something. If that is the price, so be it.

 

A lot of people have focused on 'Stearns paying to correct his mistake' and stuff like that. Well, that's what leaders do. It's easy to get paralyzed and indecisive due to mistakes. Being a leader is about making difficult decisions in a logical fashion. I think signing JBJ followed that course. That JBJ was traded was also a logical decision. Too many times people double down on a decision because they think that back tracking or whatever will make them look weak. But the reality is that situations change - and a good leader will alter plans accordingly.

[Joseph Zarr]

Those of you pining to trade Kolten, or swap Kolten, or jettison Kolten…

 

You’re all Wong. Each and every one of you is dead Wong. You might be trying to pull off some Night Moves or Turn the Page to Seager, but it would be the Wong idea to mess with Urias in his current flex utility role.

 

(These opinions are overstated for maximum ‘play on words’ impact)

[brewerfan82]

I'm pretty happy and was fairly shocked they were able to pull off this trade. It's really hard not to like how this sets up the big league team in the short term. In no way does having a better player in Renfroe and more payroll flexibility this year and next negatively impact the way the Brewers can pursue additional acquisitions this offseason in comparison to still having JBJ and his contract on the books instead.

 

That said, I can understand not being happy with losing those prospects, but it's not like we traded a Mitchell, or a Turang, or an Ashby, or a Small, or a Feliciano...

[TURBO]

I don't see how saving 2 million on JBJ's contract will allow us to suddenly sign a big bat. 2 million is nothing.

 

I am for the trade, I just don't know how everyone is thinking we have all this extra money to play with now, and how that will translate into signing another BIG bat.

 

That 2 million we are saving this year does pretty much nothing, and doesn't Renfro's arby just go up even more next season, providing us no savings in 2023 either. (on JBJ's contract)

[narwhalattack]

I don't see how saving 2 million on JBJ's contract will allow us to suddenly sign a big bat. 2 million is nothing.

 

I am for the trade, I just don't know how everyone is thinking we have all this extra money to play with now, and how that will translate into signing another BIG bat.

 

That 2 million we are saving this year does pretty much nothing, and doesn't Renfro's arby just go up even more next season, providing us no savings in 2023 either. (on JBJ's contract)

 

Can’t wait to use that extra money to sign…

 

*Checks notes*

 

Jordy Mercer