The Los Angeles Angels announced Tuesday evening that they have acquired veteran outfielder Hunter Renfroe from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Janson Junk, RHP Elvis Peguero, and LHP Adam Seminaris.
2023 is Renfroe’s age-31 season and his eighth MLB season. He spent 2022 with the Brewers — his fourth team — and played in 125 games. He batted .255 with an .807 OPS, spending nearly all of his defensive innings in right field.
Renfroe has a .790 OPS for his career and has hit at least 25 home runs in every season in which he played at least 100 games. Given the uncertainty surrounding Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak, acquiring a steady veteran like Renfroe in the outfield is another strong move by the Angels this offseason.
The new Angels outfielder earned $7.65 million with the Brewers in 2022 and is entering his final year of arbitration. Similar to recently-acquired infielder Gio Urshela, he is projected for a slight raise to the $8-10 million range in 2023.
As for what the Angels gave up, Junk and Peguero were acquired together in the deal that sent Andrew Heaney to the New York Yankees in 2021. Both spent time with the Angels’ big league roster, but neither performed particularly well.
Junk has a 4.74 ERA in seven MLB appearances, including six starts. Peguero has a 9.15 ERA in 16 MLB appearances out of the bullpen. Seminaris, meanwhile, is yet to make his MLB debut, but played at Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A for various stints in 2022.
He dominated at the High-A level, but struggled to replicate results in Double-A and Triple-A.
The Angels have now acquired three players in three different areas of need to begin the offseason. Renfroe potentially fixes what was a difficult part of the lineup in left field. Urshela gives the Angels legitimate infield depth behind Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh.
Meanwhile, Tyler Anderson gives the Angels a quality starter, bringing their rotation to a formidable five.