Perry Minasian is wasting little time doing what he can to build the Angels into a team that can snap the organization’s seven-year playoff drought.
With two days to go before Thanksgiving, the Angels on Tuesday night made their third significant move of the winter, acquiring slugging outfielder Hunter Renfroe from the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Angels traded away right-handers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero, who had brief stints in the majors, and minor league lefty Adam Seminaris.
Last week the Angels traded for infielder Gio Urshela and signed free agent left-hander Tyler Anderson.
Now they’ve added Renfroe, a 30-year-old corner outfielder who had hit at least 26 homers in each of the last five non-pandemic seasons. He hit 29 homers with an .807 OPS last season in Milwaukee.
Renfroe has a career .790 OPS, playing for the Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and Brewers. The Angels will be his fifth team in five years.
“It’s a productive player who has done it year in and year out for a while,” Minasian said. “It’s a quality two-way guy. Not only can he produce on the offensive side, he’s a quality defender. He can really throw. Just the total package. We felt like he was a really good fit for us.”
Renfroe has played primarily right field, but he can also play left. Minasian said that Taylor Ward, who played mostly right field last year, could also move to left.
“We’ll figure it out as we go along,” Minasian said.
Renfroe has one year left before free agency. He’ll make around $11 million in his final year of arbitration in 2023. Added to the $13 million Anderson will make and approximately $9 million that Urshela will make, the Angels have spent $33 million on new players for 2023.
And Minasian said they aren’t done.
“We’ll continue to look to improve,” Minasian said. “I really believe there’s different areas we can definitely use a boost, whether that’s in the bullpen, the rotation, we’ll still take a look at the infield and see if we can get better there. I feel like there’s opportunities out there and we’ll explore all of them.”
The move also pushes Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak down the depth chart. Adell, 23, had been one of the Angels top prospects, but he has struggled to perform consistently in his big league opportunities over the past few years.
Minasian, who has seen his team suffer from lack of depth, did not seem concerned about a playing time crunch.
“We need everybody,” Minasian said. “Our 40-man depth is important. Things happen over the course of the year. That’s something you’ve heard me talk about. I keep repeating myself. Quality players. These guys are not middle tier players. We feel like they are really good players. We have some high end guys and now we’re trying to fill some some of that middle part of our roster with quality, and we feel like we’ve done that so far.”
The Angels had to give up three pitchers to get Renfroe. Although none of them were considered top prospects, they each showed some potential.
Junk, 26, was rated the Angels’ No. 14 prospect by Baseball America. He had posted a 4.74 ERA in 24-2/3 big league innings over the past two seasons. Neither Peguero nor Seminaris were listed among the Angels’ top 30 prospects by Baseball America. Peguero, 25, had a 9.15 ERA in 19-2/3 innings in the majors the past two years.
Seminaris, a product of Long Beach State, had a 3.54 ERA in three levels of the Angels farm system last year, topping at Triple-A. Seminaris, 24, was the Angels’ fifth-round pick in 2020.
The Angels were willing to give up pitching because — in contrast to recent seasons — they actually have more depth of pitching than offensive players.
Last season the Angels were one of the worst hitting teams in the majors, but they had the ninth best ERA.
“I think we’re significantly better,” Minasian said. “I don’t think the work is done. There’s definitely areas where we can continue to improve, but I do think we’re significantly better.”
Much more to come on this story.