Brewers’ Offseason Makeover Continues As Hunter Renfroe Heads To The Angels For Three Pitchers

Hunter Renfroe was one of the Milwaukee Brewers’ most productive and consistent offensive players in 2022, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise that the team extended the arbitration-eligible outfielder a contract for next season.

But with an estimated price tag of $11 million, combined with a long list of other players due to earn big raises through arbitration this winter and a bumper crop of talented young prospects at the top of the farm system, it also wasn’t much of a surprise that the Brewers were open to dealing the veteran slugger.

They did just that late Tuesday night when Renfroe was sent to the Los Angeles Angels for right-handers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero and left-hander Adam Seminaris, a trio of young pitchers that president of baseball operations Matt Arnold think will play a big role in 2023.

“Between the three of these guys, we feel really good about insulating the arms that we already (have) at the major-league level,” Arnold told a select group of reporters during a call announcing the trade.

Renfroe, 30, slashed .255/.315/.492 with 29 home runs, 72 RBIs and an .807 OPS after coming to Milwaukee in a deal that sent Jackie Bradley Jr. to the Red Sox just before the MLB lockout went into effect last December.

He was strong defensively, too, finishing with an NL-best 11 outfield assists and Renfroe’s overall numbers might have been even better had injuries to his calf and hamstring not limited him to 125 games.

The Brewers, though, are loaded with outfielders at the top level of their farm system. Four of Milwaukee’s top five prospects according to MLB Pipeline are outfielders while the fifth, shortstop Brice Turang, was seen significant time in the outfield recently as the organization looked for a way to fit him onto a big league roster that was also well-stocked with infielders.

Three of them — Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer — put up impressive numbers at Triple-A Nashville last season with Mitchell, the Brewers’ first-round pick in 2020, getting his first taste of big league action during the final-month playoff push.

With Mitchell likely to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster, and could find himself in the starting lineup alongside left fielder Christian Yelich and right fielder Tyrone Taylor, Frelick, a first-round pick in 2021 and Wiemer, who went in the 2020 second round, will almost certainly be in the mix when it comes to call-ups during the season.

A little ways back organizationally but topping Milwaukee’s prospect rankings is another outfielder, Jackson Chourio and Esteury Ruiz, one of the four players Milwaukee acquired from San Diego for Josh Hader, checks in at No. 7 on the list and is already on the 40-man roster.

“It gives a lot of guys opportunities here,” Arnold said. “The number of guys that are in the mix here to compete – whether that’s on opening day – is still to be determined. We have a long way to go between now and then but we’re excited about this group and feel really good about the mix of outfielders we have going into the 2023 season.”

Those options, Arnold said, outweighed any potential financial consideration when it came time to pull the trigger on a trade.

“Honestly, from our perspective, it really is more about adding to our organization and dealing from a position of strength,” Arnold said. “Anytime we’re having a conversation, we want to make sure you have the depth, and we felt like we did have that depth in the outfield. And then to be able to augment our pitching depth was a good thing as well.”

“We feel good about it from both perspectives.”