The Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers made a trade before Major League Baseball’s impending work stoppage.
On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced they traded outfielder Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee in exchange for outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and minor-league infielders Alex Binelas and David Hamilton.
According to MLB.com’s list of prospect rankings, Hamilton was the No. 16 overall player in Milwaukee’s farm system, while Binelas was the No. 17 player.
Boston also landed Bradley in the deal and is surely familiar with what he can do. After all, he played for the Red Sox during the first eight years of his career before they traded him to the Brewers prior to the 2021 campaign.
Bradley was an All-Star in 2016, won a Gold Glove in 2018, helped Boston win the 2018 World Series and was the ALCS MVP that year as well. The 31-year-old also hit double-digit home runs five years in a row from 2015 through 2019 and surpassed 20 long balls twice during that span.
However, he struggled in 2021 for the Brewers and slashed .163/.236/.261 with six home runs and 29 RBI in 134 games. It was a far cry from when he finished with a career-best .283 batting average during the shortened 2020 campaign in his final year before Boston traded him.
Renfroe was much better this past year.
He slashed .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs and 96 RBI for the Red Sox in 2021, which marked his fourth straight full season (not counting the shortened 2020 one) with 26 or more long balls.
The right-handed hitter will bring immediate power to Milwaukee’s lineup and figures to provide much more offensively than Bradley did during his one season with the Brewers.
