The Milwaukee Brewers 2022 season certainly did not go according to plan. After entering the season as the supposed favorite to win the National League Central, the Brewers fell apart down the stretch of the season, and watched the St. Louis Cardinals run away with the division. Even worse, Milwaukee barely missed out on a Wild Card spot, making a bad situation even worse.
This offseason, the Brewers found themselves in an interesting spot. On one hand, they want to be a playoff contender, just like every other team in the MLB. But on the other hand, that may not be plausible, and as a result, there have been rumors swirling that they may be on the verge of blowing things up and trading away some of their biggest stars.
So far, that hasn’t happened, but if that does end up happening, I may have to rewrite this column. But for now, Milwaukee has kept a relatively low-profile this offseason, as they have only made a few noteworthy moves. But among those moves, it’s clear that this trade involving a key contributor to their team in 2022 is the riskiest move they have made this offseason.
Brewers riskiest offseason move: Trading Hunter Renfroe
Hunter Renfroe has been a man on the move quite a lot recently. After playing the first four seasons of his career with the San Diego Padres, Renfroe has spent the past three seasons with three different teams in the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, and of course, the Brewers. You can make it four teams in four seasons, though, as the Brewers traded Renfroe to the Los Angeles Angels earlier this offseason.
Milwaukee dealt Renfroe in exchange for pitchers Janson Junk, Elvis Peguero, and Adam Seminaris. It was a confusing deal at the time, and it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon. Renfroe was a consistent contributor for the Brewers last season, and there’s a decent chance none of these pitchers will make an impact in the majors this season.
Seminaris is the key piece in the return here, as he appears to have some potential as a middle of the rotation starter. Seminaris went from A+ to AAA last season, and while his numbers in AAA weren’t great, his overall numbers on the season (7-11, 3.98 ERA, 97 K, 1.43 WHIP) are decent. But at 24 years old, Seminaris is running out of time to develop.
Both Junk (1-1, 6.48 ERA, 11 K, 1.56 WHIP) and Peguero (0-0. 6.75 ERA, 12 K, 1.62 WHIP) are fringe MLB pitchers, and while maybe one of them can become a solid piece in the bullpen, that doesn’t seem increasingly likely to happen. There’s a very decent chance the Brewers just gave up Renfroe for nothing.
With the return out of the way, it’s time to take a look at what Renfroe himself brought to the table. Renfroe followed up his breakout 2021 campaign with the Red Sox with another strong season in 2022 with the Brewers (.255 BA, 29 HR, 72 RBI, .807 OPS). Renfroe was one of the more reliable bats in the Brewers lineup, and it seemed like Milwaukee made a shrewd deal picking him up from Boston last offseason.
Instead, they surprisingly decided to part ways with Renfroe after just one solid season, without truly having a replacement lined up either. Christian Yelich is still hanging around, but Tyrone Taylor, who hit just .233, was pretty much the everyday center fielder alongside them. And realistically speaking, he shouldn’t be playing in 120 games.
Now not only is Taylor going to have to remain a starter, but there’s a spot alongside him and Yelich wide open for the taking. Jesse Winker seems to have the inside track to pick up that spot, but he was awful for the Seattle Mariners last offseason, so that doesn’t really seem to be a great option. But right now, it’s the only option Milwaukee has it seems.
The Brewers would likely be in a strange spot even with Renfroe, but this move, which was confusing at the time, remains confusing to this day. Milwaukee doesn’t seem to know whether or not they want to try to win games in 2023, or simply just blow things up and start from scratch. And this trade of Renfroe pretty much personifies that mindset.
Milwaukee had several holes they needed to fill this offseason, but they ended up making their life more difficult by trading away Renfroe here. He’s not the greatest player to roam the earth, but the Brewers can’t really afford to trade away players who are able to do their job at the major league level. This is a very risky deal, and it will be interesting to see how Renfroe ends up performing in his first season with the Angels after this deal.
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