Red Sox Trade Hunter Renfroe To Brewers For Jackie Bradley Jr. And Prospects

Just ahead of Major League Baseball’s lockout on Wednesday night, the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers conducted a trade. Boston sent outfielder Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee in exchange for Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospect infielders: David Hamilton and Alex Binelas.

This deal benefits the Brewers by giving them a replacement for outfielder Avisail Garcia, who signed with the Miami Marlins this offseason. It also lets them shed the remainder of Bradley’s contract.

The Red Sox also reap the benefits since they are bringing Bradley back to Boston.  Bradley spent the first eight years of his MLB career with the Red Sox before he was previously traded to the Brewers before the 2021 season.

Bradley was a 2016 All-Star when he was with Boston. He also won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and won a Gold Glove that same year. If that weren’t enough, the 31-year old was the ALCS MVP in 2018.

During his time in Milwaukee, center fielder Bradley slashed .163/.236/.261 with six homers in 134 games. This is far from his career-best, which came in 2020 when he hit .283 before Boston traded him to Milwaukee. However, bringing Bradley back to Boston will probably do him well, and he is expected to see better numbers.

Renfroe, 29, had a bounce-back 2021 season with the Red Sox. Renfroe slashed .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs in 144 games. He has two years of team control left on his contract and will earn around $8 million in arbitration.

Renfroe had a much better 2021 season than Bradley did, and the right-handed power hitter could easily provide much-needed offense to the Brewers in 2022 than Bradley did last season. Both Hamilton and Binelas are recent draft picks of the Brewers who will not see the big leagues for at least a few years.