Brewers Acquire Hunter Renfroe From Red Sox For Jackie Bradley Jr., Two Prospects
The Red Sox and Brewers announced agreement on a trade sending corner outfielder Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee. In return, the Red Sox are reacquiring longtime center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects, infielders David Hamilton and Alex Binelas.
It’s an out-of-the-blue swap pulled off just minutes before the work stoppage. Renfroe, 30 next month, is coming off a solid season. Signed by the Red Sox to a $3.1MM guarantee last winter, the former first-round pick emerged as Boston’s primary right fielder. He tallied 572 plate appearances and hit .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs. By measure of wRC+, Renfroe’s overall offensive output was 14 percentage points above the league average in 2021, tied for the highest mark of his career.
Renfroe rated as a league average defender by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. He tied for the league lead with 16 outfield assists, often showcasing a cannon of an arm that scouts have lauded since his days as a prospect. But both DRS and Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegged his range as a bit below average, with the overall glovework coming out fairly middle-of-the-road.
Even if he’s not likely to win a Gold Glove, Renfroe is a capable right fielder who figures to assume a similar everyday role in Milwaukee. The Brewers lost Avisaíl García to the Marlins in free agency and seemed likely to rely on some combination of Bradley and Tyrone Taylor in right field. Each of Renfroe or Taylor could now spell veteran Lorenzo Cain in center field in the case of rest days or injury for the 35-year-old.
Renfroe steps in to upgrade that mix and add some punch to a Milwaukee lineup that ranked just 17th in slugging percentage this past season despite playing its home games in one of the league’s more hitter-friendly environments. He remains controllable via arbitration through the end of the 2023 season (barring changes to the service time structure in the next collective bargaining agreement). He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $7.6MM salary in 2022.
That’s a bit cheaper than Bradley, who will play next season on a $9.5MM deal after exercising a player option last month. Renfroe’s also coming off a far superior showing, as Bradley had a nightmarish 2021 campaign at the plate. Milwaukee signed Bradley to a two-year guarantee last offseason, but he managed only a .163/.236/.261 mark over his 428 plate appearances with the Brew Crew.
By measure of wRC+, Bradley’s offensive numbers were an astounding 65 points below league average. That ranked last among the 262 hitters with 300+ trips to the plate, with essentially nothing going right for Bradley offensively. His strikeout rate spiked to a career-high 30.8%, while his walk percentage dipped to a personal-low 6.5%. Bradley’s six home runs marked his lowest total in seven years, as did his .095 ISO (slugging minus batting average).
To his credit, Bradley continued to play his typical brand of excellent defense. The former Gold Glove winner rated as twelve runs above average over his 915 1/3 innings on the grass. Statcast, meanwhile, estimated he was worth four Outs Above Average. Yet even a gloveman as excellent as Bradley isn’t providing much overall value with an offensive showing as poor as he had in 2021.
It’s not especially surprising the Milwaukee front office was looking for opportunities to upgrade over Bradley’s spot in the lineup, and they found one via his old team. While the Brewers will add an offensive upgrade, the Red Sox bring Bradley back to Boston in hopes that a return to that environment can unlock some of his prior production. Bradley was a fan favorite and generally strong player over nearly a decade with the Red Sox, first joining the organization as a supplemental first-round pick in 2010.
Bradley became an important member of the Sox’s lineup by 2014, spending most of the next seven seasons as a regular. His highlight-reel defense in center endeared him to the Boston faithful, and the left-handed hitter occasionally flashed potential on offense. His final season with the Red Sox was one of his best, as Bradley hit .283/.364/.450 with seven homers and five steals across 217 plate appearances during the truncated 2020 campaign.
The Boston front office will take a shot on a rebound at the plate while presumably installing Bradley back into the center field mix. Doing so would free up utilityman Enrique Hernández to play second base more frequently, with Alex Verdugo and top prospect Jarren Duran flanking Bradley on the corners. Of course, the Sox could look for future additions to the position player mix, with a right-handed hitting outfielder capable of complementing the lefty-swinging trio of Verdugo, Bradley and Duran standing out as an obvious fit.
Bradley’s contract also contains a $12MM mutual option for 2023 that comes with an $8MM buyout. The Red Sox are assuming a decent chunk of guaranteed money down the line in order to acquire a pair of fairly well-regarded young position players. Each of Hamilton and Binelas was ranked by Baseball America among Milwaukee’s top 20 prospects midseason.
Hamilton, 24, was an eighth-rounder of the University of Texas in 2019. He sat out that season recovering from an Achilles rupture he’d suffered during his junior year with the Longhorns, and last year’s canceled minor league campaign meant he didn’t play in affiliated ball until 2021. The left-handed hitter split his time between High-A and Double-A, hitting .259/.341/.419 with eight homers and 52 stolen bases across 459 plate appearances. Unsurprisingly given that impressive steal tally, the 5’10” middle infielder draws strong marks from scouts for his speed and athleticism, in addition to a sound approach at the plate.
Binelas, 21, was the Brewers’ third-round pick in last summer’s draft. Regarded as a potential first round talent entering his final season at the University of Louisville, he slumped through a down year that dealt a blow to his stock. The left-handed hitter did his best to put that behind him over a brief showing in Low-A after draft day, though, hitting .314/.379/.636 with nine homers in 132 trips to the plate.
A corner infielder, Binelas spent the bulk of his time in college and in the minors at third base. BA suggested midseason it looked unlikely he’d stick at the hot corner and projected his future lying at first or perhaps in left field. Binelas will need to hit to carry that profile, but he’s flashed power, plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills in the past. His strong showing in Low-A — while somewhat to be expected for a player drafted out of one of the top conferences in college baseball — is a strong start in that regard.
Altogether, it’s a fascinating deal — likely the final swap we’ll see for quite some time with a transaction freeze now in place. The Brewers lock in a much-needed lineup upgrade to replace a player they lost on the open market. The Red Sox improve a spotty team defense while bringing back a player who’s had plenty of success in their uniform in years past, taking on a fair bit of long-term money to also add some younger talent to the organization.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Front Office/Coaching Notes: Astros, Brewers, Padres, Reds
Some recent front office and coaching moves around baseball…
- Sara Goodrum, believed to be the first woman in Major League history to hold the role of minor league hitting coordinator, will leave the Brewers to become the Astros‘ director of player development, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. She’ll follow a pair of path-breaking women — Marlins GM Kim Ng and Orioles director of baseball development Eve Rosenbaum — who’ve been hired to prominent front office roles. While her elevation to her new role represents another in a series of major steps forward for women in Major League Baseball, Goodrum is also one of several other women employed by teams in coaching roles in recent years.
- The Padres have hired longtime big-league catcher Francisco Cervelli as their new catching instructor. The thirty-five-year-old Cervelli, who posted a solid .268/.358/.382 batting line across parts of thirteen seasons with the Yankees, Pirates, Braves, and Marlins, will take over for Rod Barajas. Barajas, also a former catcher, had been in the Padres organization since 2014, amassing a 1-7 record as interim Padres manager for the last eight games of 2019, following the firing of Andy Green. A veteran of 13 big league seasons, Cervelli will now be overseeing a crowded catching situation in San Diego. The Padres acquired backstop Jorge Alfaro from the Marlins Tuesday to supplement a group headed by incumbents Austin Nola and Victor Caratini.
- The Reds announced a series of coaching changes Monday. Former Astros farmhand Rolando Valles has been promoted from major league associate coach to major league assistant coach. Kyle Arnsberg, the game-planning coach for Double-A Chattanooga, was also promoted to an assistant coach role on the MLB staff. Former Vanderbilt infielder Joel McKeithan has been named a major league assistant hitting coach and offensive coordinator. Bullpen catcher Nate Irving has taken over Arnsberg’s old role in Chattanooga, where he’ll also serve as the bench coach.
Brewers Sign Rex Brothers To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed veteran left-handed reliever Rex Brothers to a minor league deal, per a team announcement. Brothers will receive an invitation to spring training.
Brothers, who turns 34 this month, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in February and ended up having an up-and-down season. On June 27, he was sitting on an ERA of 2.63 through 27 1/3 innings. However, it was a steep slide from there, as he struggled down the stretch and finished the season with an ERA of 5.26 over 53 innings. Walks have been an especially troublesome issue for Brothers, as he’s never posted a walk rate lower than 11.4% in a given season and has a career rate of 13.5%. But that also comes with tantalizing strikeout numbers, as evidenced by his 27.6% career strikeout rate. 2021 was even more extreme, with a strikeout rate of 31.8% and walk rate of 14.8%.
The best stretch of his career was with the Rockies from 2011 to 2013, as he threw 175 2/3 innings with an ERA of 2.82, strikeout rate of 29.1% and walk rate of 12.4%. Brothers then endured a miserable 2014, as his ERA shot up to 5.59, and then only saw limited big league action over the next six years, logging 37 1/3 total innings from 2015 to 2020.
Like most southpaws, Brothers is more effective against lefties, but his splits aren’t drastic. Over his career, he’s held lefties to a line of .214/.336/.321, with righties slashing .253/.351/.418.
Tender Deadline Signings: 11/30/21
With the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players looming tonight at 8pm ET — the MLBPA and MLB jointly agreed to move the deadline up a couple days due to the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement — we’ll likely see a slew of arbitration-eligible players signing one-year deals.
It’s commonplace for a large batch of players to sign deals in the hours leading up to the tender deadline. “Pre-tender” deals of this nature often fall shy of projections due to the fact that teams use the looming threat of a non-tender to enhance their leverage. Arbitration contracts at this juncture are often take-it-or-leave-it propositions, with the “leave it” end of that arrangement resulting in the player being cut loose. Given the widely expected lockout, there could be more incentive than usual for borderline non-tender candidates to take those offers rather than being cast out into free agency just hours before a transaction freeze is implemented.
As a reminder, arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed. In a typical year, a team can cut a player on an arb contract at any point before the halfway point in Spring Training and only be responsible for 30 days’ termination pay (about one-sixth of the contract). Releasing a player in the second half of Spring Training bumps the termination pay to 45 days of his prorated salary.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month, although for many of the players listed below, this isn’t so much avoiding arbitration as it is avoiding a non-tender. Here’s a look at today’s agreements…
- The Yankees have agreed to deals with infielder Gio Urshela and right-hander Domingo German, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). Urshela will make $6.55MM, while German has agreed to a $1.75MM deal. Urshela has two seasons of control remaining; German is controllable for three years. Urshela is coming off a .267/.301/.419 showing while playing third base and shortstop. German tossed 98 1/3 innings of 4.58 ERA ball.
- The Twins have signed three arbitration-eligible pitchers, per reports from Feinsand and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (on Twitter). Right-hander Jharel Cotton signed for $700K, reliever Caleb Thielbar lands $1.3MM and reliever Tyler Duffey signs for $3.8MM. Thielbar and Duffey were both productive members of the Minnesota relief corps in 2021. Cotton was recently claimed off waivers from the Rangers.
- The Giants have agreed to terms with outfielder Austin Slater on a $1.85MM deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 next month) appeared at all three spots on the grass while hitting .241/.320/.423 over 306 plate appearances in 2021.
- Reliever Emilio Pagan and the Padres have agreed on a $2.3MM deal, reports Rosenthal (on Twitter). The 30-year-old worked 63 1/3 innings of 4.83 ERA/3.93 SIERA ball this past season.
- The Diamondbacks agreed to a $2MM deal with left-hander Caleb Smith, reports Zach Buchanan of the Athletic (via Twitter). The 30-year-old posted a 4.83 ERA/4.68 SIERA across 113 2/3 innings in a swing capacity in 2021.
Brewers Non-Tender Daniel Vogelbach
The Brewers announced this evening that they have non-tendered both first baseman Daniel Vogelbach and right-handed pitcher John Curtiss. The power-swinging Vogelbach was projected to receive a $2MM salary through arbitration (by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), which the team likely viewed as redundant with a fellow lefty bat on hand in Rowdy Tellez.
Claimed off waivers from Toronto during the 2020 season, Vogelbach’s bat erupted for a 161 OPS+ during a 19-game stint with the Brewers last season. His .219/.349/.381 slash line this year, however, registered slightly below the league average (97 OPS+). The 28-year-old continued to hit the ball with authority this year and even cut his strikeout rate to a personal best 22.1%, but his defensive limitations and middling offensive performance were enough for the budget-conscious Brewers to move on. The lefty slugger can be controlled through 2025 via arbitration if he latches on with another Major League team this winter.
The right-handed Curtiss came over to Milwaukee in a last-minute deal with the Marlins this past July. The deal proved ill-fated for both the Brewers and Curtiss after just six appearances out of the bullpen, as the reliever yielded six runs and headed to the injured list with a torn UCL. The 28-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery in September and is unlikely to see action on a Major League roster until 2023, at the earliest. Dating back to 2020 Curtiss carries a 2.86 ERA across 69 innings and will remain a high-upside reliever play for teams if his recovery goes as planned. The Brewers now have 36 players on their 40-man roster.
Brewers To Sign Brett Sullivan To Major League Deal
The Brewers are signing catcher/corner outfielder Brett Sullivan to a major league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Sullivan, who has yet to appear in the major leagues, became a minor league free agent earlier this month after seven seasons in the Rays’ farm system. The Brewers’ 40-man roster now sits at 38.
Sullivan was selected by Tampa Bay in the 17th-round of the 2015 draft coming out of the University of the Pacific. He’s never appeared on an organizational prospects ranking at either FanGraphs or Baseball America, but the left-handed hitter has typically performed well in the minor leagues. Sullivan posted above-average offensive numbers up through Double-A, very rarely striking out. He’s not drawn many walks or hit for a ton of power, but Sullivan’s ability to put the ball in play allowed him to consistently run high batting averages before 2021.
This past season was a bit of a struggle, as Sullivan sputtered to a .223/.302/.375 line with nine home runs over 345 plate appearances with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham. Those numbers were depressed by a career-low .244 batting average on balls in play, though. Sullivan only punched out in 15.7% of his Triple-A plate appearances. That mark, while the highest rate of his career, is around seven percentage points lower than the big league average.
Sullivan becomes the third catcher on the 40-man roster, joining starter Omar Narváez and prospect Mario Feliciano. Longtime Brewer Manny Piña departed to join the Braves a few weeks ago. It’s possible Milwaukee continues to hunt for a more experienced backup, but Sullivan has an opportunity to factor into that mix. (It stands to reason the Crew would prefer to get Feliciano everyday reps at Triple-A Nashville as opposed to having him play sporadically in the majors behind Narváez). Sullivan has all three minor league option years remaining, so the Brewers can shuttle him on and off the active roster for the extended future so long as he holds onto a 40-man spot.
Doug Jones Passes Away
Former major league reliever Doug Jones has passed away, according to an announcement from the Guardians. He was 64 years old.
A right-hander, Jones first broke into the majors in 1982 with the eventual American League champion Brewers. That was just a four-game cameo, though, and he didn’t make it back to the bigs until 1986 with the Indians. Despite not really get an extended big league look until his age-30 season, Jones emerged as a fixture in the bullpen by 1987. He worked 91 1/3 frames of 3.15 ERA ball that year before kicking off a three-year run of sub-2.60 ERA, 30+ save seasons.
Jones was selected to the All-Star game each year from 1988-90, garnering down ballot MVP support in two of those seasons. After some uncharacteristic struggles in 1991, he posted arguably his best ever season the following year. Jones worked 111 2/3 innings across 80 relief outings with the Astros in 1992, earning his fourth All-Star nod and his highest MVP finish (14th). He’d continue to be an effective bullpen workhorse deep into his 40’s, earning his fifth and final All-Star selection in 1994 and again appearing on MVP ballots in 1997 before retiring in 2000.
Jones twice led MLB in games finished, wrapping up 70 contests with the ’92 Astros and 73 games with the ’97 Brewers. He appeared in parts of sixteen major league seasons and worked 1128 1/3 innings of 3.30 ERA ball over 846 outings. Jones recorded 303 career saves and struck out 909 batters. His 129 saves with Cleveland ranks third in franchise history, and he ranks seventh in that category on Houston’s career leaderboard. Jones also pitched for the A’s, Pirates, Phillies, Cubs and Orioles over the course of his very impressive career. During his post-playing career, he served as a coach in the Rockies’ farm system.
MLBTR joins others around the game in sending our condolences to Jones’ family, friends, teammates and loved ones.
Guardians Trade J.C. Mejia To Brewers
1:33pm: Mejia was actually granted a fourth minor league option, president of baseball operations David Stearns tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). That’s quite notable for his outlook, as he can now head to Triple-A Nashville and continue to develop as a starter and serve as some upper-level depth.
1:03pm: The Brewers have acquired right-hander J.C. Mejia from the Guardians in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, the teams announced. Mejia was one of seven players designated for assignment in Cleveland last Friday as the Guardians set their roster in advance of the Rule 5 protection deadline.
Mejia, 25, made his big league debut this past season for a Cleveland club that was rocked by injuries in the starting rotation. It wasn’t a great showing, evidenced by gruesome 8.25 ERA and 2.2 HR/9 marks through his first 52 1/3 Major League innings. His struggles weren’t confined to the Majors, either, as Mejia was roughed up for a 6.75 ERA in 39 Triple-A frames — also his debut at that level.
While the 2021 season wasn’t a strong one in terms of results, Mejia had a sharp track record prior to this rocky campaign. Even with this year’s poor Triple-A numbers, he sports a career 3.12 ERA in the minors — a mark accompanied by solid strikeout and walk rates (23.4% and 7.1%, respectively). Mejia also had a 48% ground-ball rate in the big leagues and has regularly posted grounder percentages north of 55% in the minors.
Starting pitching isn’t a major need in Milwaukee, where the Brewers have a star-studded rotation headlined by Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta. Righty Adrian Houser and lefty Eric Lauer round out the mix, and the Brewers also have some homegrown alternative options in the form of Aaron Ashby and Ethan Small — the former of whom could open the 2021 season in the Milwaukee bullpen.
Given that solid group of options, Mejia seems likely to open the year in the bullpen — if he survives the winter on the 40-man roster. Mejia is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to break camp with the club or else be exposed to waivers. With a ~93mph four-seamer and sinker working as a starter, it’s possible his velocity could jump into the mid-90s working in shorter stints. For now, he’ll likely head to camp in hopes of winning a long-relief spot.
Brewers To Sign Pedro Severino
The Brewers have signed catcher Pedro Severino to a one-year, $1.9MM deal, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). Another $400K in incentives are available to the 28-year-old backstop, who is represented by Republik Sports. The contract will become official when Severino passes a physical.
After Manny Pina signed with the Braves earlier this week, Severino will now step directly into Pina’s role as the right-handed hitting complement to the lefty-swinging Omar Narvaez behind the plate in Milwaukee. Narvaez struggles badly against left-handed pitching and he struggled in general in the second half of the 2021 season, so there should be a fair amount of playing time available to Severino with his new club.
Severino, for his part, has a very solid .262/.324/.441 career slash line against left-handed pitching, with particularly good numbers in both 2019 (.812 OPS in 155 PA) and 2021 (.818 OPS in 161 PA). Severino didn’t do much against righties, however, and between his projected $3.1MM arbitration salary and Adley Rutschman looming as the Orioles’ catcher of the future, Baltimore chose to outright Severino off its 40-man roster earlier this month. Severino then opted to become a free agent for the first time in his career.
Severino has a third and final year of arbitration eligibility next winter, so this extra year of control gives the Brewers some flexibility in future catching decisions since Narvaez is himself a free agent after the 2022 campaign. Prospect Mario Feliciano made his MLB debut last year, so if the Brew Crew is optimistic about his future, Milwaukee could potentially roll with a Feliciano/Severino combination in 2023 if the club decided to let Narvaez walk.
Defensively, Severino has been a below-average framer and he has -19 Defensive Runs Saved over his career. As noted by Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, however, there is some cause for optimism that the Brewers can get Severino turned around in the same way that Narvaez went from being a subpar defender to a very strong pitch-framer in his two seasons with the Brew Crew.
Organizational Notes: Red Sox, Groopman, Orioles, Murray
Mike Groopman is joining the Red Sox organization as an assistant general manager, per Chad Jennings and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Groopman was previously with the Brewers as VP of International Scouting and Player Personnel.
After short stints with the Reds and Mets, Groopman was hired by the Royals in 2008 and ended up staying for a decade, before moving to Milwaukee in 2017. When he joined Kansas City, the club was in the middle of a years-long tank job that ultimately proved fruitful, as they had four consecutive seasons of .500 or above from 2013 to 2016, which included back-to-back trips to the World Series, losing to the Giants in 2014 but then defeating the Mets in 2015. Since Groopman came to the Brewers, they have also had a nice run of success, having just made the postseason for a fourth straight year.
Of course, front offices are comprised of dozens of employees and no individual can take full responsibility for a club’s successes or failures. Still, the fact that Groopman has been given this new job and new title shows that his work is well regarded in the industry.
Moving across the AL East, Collin Murray will be joining the Orioles as a development coach, he himself announced on Twitter. Over the past few years, Murray has worked with some colleges, in addition to jobs with the Marlins, Angels and Tigers.
Development is going to be extremely important for the Orioles over the next few years. They are currently bottom feeders in a stacked AL East, with the other four teams each logging at least 91 wins in 2021, compared to the 52 notched by the Orioles. However, their farm system is held in high esteem by prospect evaluators, with FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline ranking theirs as the best in the league, and Baseball America slotting them second behind the Mariners. Helping those talented youngsters blossom into productive major leaguers will be extremely important for them to gain ground on their rivals and get back into contention.