The Reds announced that Hunter Renfroe, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released. He’ll head to the open market and will be free to sign with any club.
Renfroe, 31, began the year with the Angels, hitting 19 home runs but otherwise producing underwhelming results at the plate. His .242/.304/.434 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 98, indicating he was just below average overall.
As the Halos fell out of contention in August, Renfroe was one of six impending they put on waivers, hoping for other clubs to take on their contracts as a way to save money and dip under the luxury tax. The Reds took a flier on him but Renfroe’s production tailed off significantly after switching jerseys, as he hit .128/.227/.205 for Cincinnati. That was in a small sample of 44 plate appearances in which he had a .154 batting average on balls in play but the club nonetheless decided to move on.
The slugger is making $11.9MM this year and had about $1.98MM left on his deal when the Reds decided to grab him. That will now go down as a sunk cost, as they will remain on the hook for the approximately $702K left to be paid out. No club was willing to absorb that by claiming him off waivers but perhaps one will be willing to sign him now that they would only be responsible for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Reds pay.
He’s not having his best season and wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any signing club, but perhaps someone is willing to give him a shot, hoping to give their lineup a boost for the final few weeks. Renfroe has 177 homers in his career and an overall batting line of .239/.300/.478 for a wRC+ of 106. It’s a fairly limited profile since he doesn’t get on base much, steal many bags or provide quality glovework, but many clubs have been intrigued by the power. Since 2019, he’s played for the Padres, Rays, Red Sox and Brewers, before bouncing to the Angels and Reds this year. If he doesn’t find a new club in the next week or so, he can at least start to gauge the interest level for this winter, when he will be a free agent.
That’s about right.
Renfroe is the type of guy who’ll be on the Rays next year hitting 25 dingers in a limited, but perfectly designed platoon role. Renfroe’s lackluster performance for Cincinnati says more about the Reds inability to maximize players than it does about Renfroe’s value moving forward.
It says more about the Reds GM’s inability to get major league experienced players that perform well, as they showed with Wil Myers and Luke Weaver. Harrison Bader didn’t set the world afire either.
Don’t be too cocky. The Rays have misfires too. Everyone does.
I’m a Tigers fan, but I admire the Rays for being the smartest poor team and the Dodgers for being the smartest rich team and the Braves for being the Einstein genius ideal franchise.
Nothing cocky here. The Reds, and many others, never seem to make the right moves when their window is open. I think that’s a fair statement.
Definitely fair, and sorry to misinterpret. In the Reds case, I was pretty outspoken about it, much to other so-called Reds fans distaste.
He’s played for 6 teams in 7yrs. If you do the math on that it works out to, punk plus cancer equals, see ya! Ahahaha!
Angels could’ve flipped him, Ohtani, so many others and restocked that farm system. Instead they let him and Ohtani walk for nothing while depleting the farm system with deadline trades.
This starts at ownership. Any time that team takes a step forward, Moreno drags it two steps back.
Moreno makes the key decisions and only hires a GM to take the heat from his constant missteps.
Which is exactly why Jerry Dipoto walked out. He refused to construct a team the way Moreno wanted. And Seattle scooped him right up. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
Except he trashed the mariners system too
“Trashed the Mariners”..Drafting numerous pitchers that end up in the Majors is now considered “trashing”? By your definition of “trashing”, every team in MLB would want to be “trashed” similarly. Much of the Mariners “system” is now in MLB.
Dipoto built what was widely considered to be a top 10 farm system while spending far less money at the MLB level AND winning more games at the MLB level.
That is complete, thorough domination in every aspect of being a GM.
Reds fleeced the Mariner’s. Mariners have a better farm system today. They can develop players.
He was also a turd who wanted to fire Scioscia to install that nimrod Scott Servais.
Hindsight is 20/20. The Angels had a winning record and ahead of Seattle in the standings. It didn’t make sense to become “sellers” at the deadline.
The Angels have TANKED the second half for like 6 straight years; if that’s not a reason to become sellers I don’t know what is. And, having the AAAA Andrew Velazquez take over 440+ Plate appearances the last 2 yrs, is yet another indication you’re not a contender. That the Angels should’ve been sellers in 2023, is about as clear any plate glass window.
They were losers whether they sold or not. That’s not a good position to be in. The ONLY way they come out looking rosy is a playoff run.
mlbf
“The Angels have TANKED the second half for like 6 straight years; if that’s not a reason to become sellers I don’t know what is. ”
Ok, then. You don’t know what is. I agree
Definitely made sense to push the chips in, but the schedule afterwards was brutal. Someone should have looked at it, and been hesitant
RH
It’s much more likely that they did than didn’t.
This. The Angels record against winning teams was bad before the deadline and we faced tons of winning teams after the deadline.
HHJJ
As is typical, people are looking at the information available to them and coming to the exact opposite conclusion than they should.
By playing teams with winning records they were playing the teams they were competing with for playoff spots. Wins over those teams would be more likely to get them into the playoffs.
The Angels aren’t idiots. They knew they were facing long odds. They went for it, and lost.
And there’s context here. Going for it while Ohtani was still healthy and under contract is different than going for it in most years.
My heart was all with these moves even though my brain knew they were a mistake.
100
They need to get rid of nevin he cost them at least 10 games by putting in loup in close games.
RH
False
That’s not how it works
How is it false? Loup is rocking a 6 era, and that doesn’t include the inherited runs he let in. Don’t understand why nevin continued to put him in. Can you tell me why they should keep him.
Rh
Better question: how is it true?
Let’s start with the most obvious.
1) Loup has 3 losses this year
2) Loup has .2 fWAR
3) Loup has – 0.9 RA-9 WAR
4) Loup has -.2 WPA
5) Loup has -4.5 -WPA
6) Loup has -.6 B-WAR
If one sums all of those it only comes to 6 losses.
So, the Impetus is on you to show how Nevin has cost the Angels 10 games by using Loup.
If you just want to say that he’s been bad, and 10 genes is hyperbole, ok, fine.
If you actually think he’s cost the team 10 games, show your work. Because I don’t want to just assume that you don’t understand baseball.
Renfroe and his wife just had their first baby recently. He is going home to Mississippi to spend time with them. See you next season Hunter.
Getting cut for the “immortal”, legendary Stuart Fairchild has gotta sting.
Are some of these comments being recycled from the previous Renfroe article?
C’mon guys. Let’s get some original stuff in her.e
Well, there are only about 170,000 words in the English language. With so few words, it can be difficult to come up with new things to say.
@toshuro it’s a free article. Pretty good deal
“final few weeks?”
There are 11 days left in the season.
> There are 11 weeks left in the season.
Man, I wish it was mid-July again. The high on Saturday here is supposed to be 59. Ugh
Days, weeks, whatever…
SDP: “Yeah, Hunter hit 33 hrs for us, but we feel we need to move in a different direction”
BOS: “Yeah, Hunter hit 31 hrs for us, but we feel we need to move in a different direction”
MIL: “Yeah Hunter hit 29 hrs for us, but we feel we need to move in a different direction”
– 5 teams in 4 years.
———————-
Anyone else feel theres more to the story than just how he plays baseball?
No. His other numbers (beats up on left handed pitching without really touching righties, has to throw out 10 runners from the OF to be in the same area code as “average”, doesn’t walk, not a great baserunner, .240 career batting average) say he’s about as bad a player can be with 30 home runs. He has value, but is only gonna bat 7th or 8th on a contender
Also, San Diego, Boston, and Milwaukee each have more than 3 OFs with more on the way in their pipelines
“without really touching righties”
The 3 years Im talking about 19, 21, 22, vs Righties:
2019 22 Hrs, .733 OPS
2021 20 Hrs, .799 OPS
2022 21 Hrs, .794 OPS
Those numbers against righties are fine, yet he still got shipped at the conclusion of those year. – Your point doesnt hold water.
“career batting average” has nothing to do with why he was traded after 2019, unless you think Padres had a crystal ball.
Crappy glove, crappy baserunning. A poor man’s Schwarber, yet he still only making scratch and teams couldnt get rid of him fast enough.
Reggie, it’s a .100 OPS difference vs Lefties. Batting average is making a comeback (thankfully) so hitting .240 needs to come with a gold glove or 40 bombs (preferably both)
The poor man’s Schwarber comp is a good one, except Renfroe is light years better with the glove. I can’t tell you why Schwarber got paid. I wouldn’t sign those paychecks personally, but to each their own
Year / Lg Avg/ Renfroe Avg
2019 / .252 / .216
2021 / .244 / .259
2022 / .243 / .255
2 of the 3 years Renfroe hit above ‘league average’
When your weak side (against righties in this case) produces .733, .794, .799, thats fine in my book. Its irrelevant what the difference from your other side is.
I see his WARs:
2.4 for $500K in salary
2.4 at $3.1M
2.7 at $7.6M
I see a keeper, not someone I need to get rid of right away.
That’s a fair argument. You are right that he is underrated.
2019 – 103 OPS. 2.4 WAR. A league average player.
in the 2019-2020 offseason the Padres had traded for Grisham to play CF, signed Profar, and wanted to move Myers to the RF full time Something had to give and that something was Renfroe.
The guys they traded Renfroe for, Pham and Cronenworth, proved to be much better overall in 2020 than Renfroe as well.
No ulterior motive. No conspiracy theories needed. They just thought that those guys would be better. Guess what? They were. Great call Padres.
Since you missed it, Renfroe hit .156 with a .645 OPS and a 79 OPS+ in 2020 for the Rays. They let him walk. No ulterior motive. Just a truly crappy season.
The Red Sox signed him to a one year deal in 2021 and then traded him to the Brewers after he put up a 2.4 WAR season. Basically league average.
Bloom sold high on him in an effort to contribute to rebuilding the farm system, No ulterior motive. Just business and good baseball.
This season he was set to earn close to $12 million in arbitration so the ever penurious Brewers traded him to save money and get prospects. 2 of which contributed something at the major league level for the Brewers this season.
2.4 WAR is about league average. You need to look at what he was making the NEXT season for the reason he was traded.
“More to the story”..The tinfoil crowd is always looking for conspiracies, right?…There was a time, not too long ago, where being picked up by many teams meant you’re a good teammate and in demand. Some guys were even considered “winners” or good luck charms, coveted by winning teams.
“picked up” He was traded in each of those instances. Do some research before you speak. We got the peanut gallery here.
No. That you do says more about you than about him.
None of the teams said that BTW.
One of those types of players thats just one great coach away from being a real decent MLB hitter. If he could get the Ks down and his walk rate up a tad he could be a very solid DH.
/easiersaidthandone
Per his Wikipedia page, “Renfroe is widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”
Technically false
He definitely is one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
He’s had a solid major league career. Only a fraction of baseball players can say that.
But, he’s not widely regarded as such because most people read “baseball players” as “MLB players”.
If he were to sign, what would be his salary for the remaining 10 games or so–like maybe 25 thousand when league minimum salary prorated???
Yeah, somewhere around $4-5k per game.
If he was claimed it would have been $808k. As a prorated share of MLB minimum its $48k.
MS
$720,000 is the MLB minimum salary
There are 187 (I think) days in the MLB season.
$720,000/187 = $3850 per day
If he signed today, he’d be owed (11 X $3850) $42,350.
more evidence there’s no need to change August waiver rules. Guardians went nowhere, Renfroe got cut, Bader is on the IL, and Leone is at the bottom of the bullpen in Seattle.
much ado about nothing
He got paid time to spend time with the family bam
Put on an Angels uniform, see your numbers drop.
Like clockwork.
@Halos
Can you short a player? Sounds like a business opportunity.
HHJJ
Except he was decent with the Angels and terrible (in a miniscule sample) with Cincy
“It’s a fairly limited profile since he doesn’t get on base much, steal many bags or provide quality glovework,” that’s Minasian Ball in a nutshell. They were the perfect match.
Not a good time to be either Hunter Renfroe/w.
I have always liked this guy. I always wished the Cardinals would get him for a bench piece and get rid of O’Neil, Carlson and Burelson. Or they could make be the everyday RF and have Walker in LF and Nootbar in CF!!