The Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers executed a noteworthy four-player trade just ahead of Major League Baseball’s owner-triggered lockout on Wednesday night. In exchange for shipping outfielder Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee, the Red Sox received three players: outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and infielders David Hamilton and Alex Binelas.
Renfroe, 29, is coming off a bounce-back season in Boston. He hit .259/.315/.501 (112 OPS+) with 31 home runs and 33 doubles in 144 contests. He has two years of team control remaining, and is projected to earn nearly $8 million through arbitration. Renfroe figures to replace Avisaíl García in the Milwaukee outfield; García recently signed a four-year pact with the Miami Marlins as a free agent.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, get to reunite with the 31-year-old Bradley Jr. just a year after he left Boston through free agency. His one season in Milwaukee went horribly, as he hit .163/.236/.261 (34 OPS+) in 134 games with the Brewers. Bradley Jr., who spent the first eight years of his MLB career in Boston, is owed $9.5 million in the final season of a two-year contract. (He’s also owed an $8 million buyout on a team option.) He remains a capable defensive center fielder, and it’s at least possible he serves as Boston’s most-days starter there.
As for Hamilton and Binelas, they’re each recent draft picks of the Brewers.
Hamilton, primarily a shortstop, was picked in the eighth round of the 2019 draft. He split last season between High- and Double-A, batting .258/.341/.419 with eight home runs and 52 stolen bases on 61 tries. (The latter can be credited to rule changes implemented at the level.) Baseball America ranked Hamilton as the 15th-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system midseason, noting that he “has a sound lefthanded stroke, uses his hands well at the plate and consistently barrels balls while showing a good eye for the strike zone.”
Binelas, for his part, was drafted in the third round over the summer. He hit .309/.390/.583 with nine home runs after failing to make good on a first-round projection entering the spring. He’s considered to be a limited defender who will have to hit in order to have a big-league career. Baseball America had Binelas ranked as the 20th-best prospect in Milwaukee’s system at the midseason mark.
