The Cincinnati Reds announced that they have released outfielder Hunter Renfroe. Earlier this week the club designated him for assignment. Renfore went unclaimed on waivers and was given his release by the Reds.
Cincinnati picked up Hunter Renfroe on waivers on August 31st from the Los Angeles Angels. He had been hitting for power in the American League West – where most parks are pitcher friendly – but wasn’t hitting for much average or getting on base. The Reds likely figured that he would see an uptick in power coming to Great American Ball Park.
That is not what happened. Not only did Renfroe not hit for power – he had just one extra-base hit in 44 plate appearances (a home run) – he also did not hit or get on base. In just under three weeks in the organization, Renfroe played in 14 games. He would start in nine of those games and come off of the bench in the others. The outfielder picked up five hits to go along with five walks during his time with the Reds. That was good for a .128 batting average, a .227 on-base percentage, and a .205 slugging percentage for those of you who didn’t want to look it up yourselves (that’s why you’re here, right?).
From the Reds perspective it made sense to give it a shot and see what happened. Sometimes things just don’t work out, and this is one of those cases. The club cut bait on the move after two-and-a-half weeks. Perhaps if this had happened earlier in the season the Cincinnati front office would have been willing to give him more time to see if he could come out of his slump. The Reds, though, only had two weeks left in the season and there was basically no wiggle room in that time for any underperformance as the team chases down a playoff spot.
Good idea to try him. Not a good idea to keep him. An argument could be made that they waited longer than they should but at least he’s gone now.
You can’t really say they tried him with just a few games and 44 at bats. If instead he had a hot streak instead of a cold streak the outcome could be better. I’d rather have had Henry Ramos taking his at bats.
One day you’re hitting third for a team fighting to make the playoffs, a few days later you’re cut and replaced by a guy who barely plays and could be sent back to the minors at any moment. Welcome to Reds Baseball.
It was worth the chance as was Bader. Didn’t work out. Bader likely follows shortly
I still can’t get behind the idea that it made any sense to pick up Bader and Renfroe. They added nothing to this roster. They were duplicative and didn’t fill a single hole. Best case scenario was they play the same level as the other guys at their positions while taking at bats from those guys. I don’t see any more potential upside to either of them than current performance of Benson, Friedl, Steer, etc… who all had to play less so that those two could play.
Wil Myers who we expected could hit well at GABP, received more time since him started the season with the team although he couldn’t hit either despite of this… Nobody will know what would happen to Renfroe whether he would have more time to stay playing with the Reds…
Need to vent somewhere. I don’t live in cincy anymore but saw some sort of article from WCPO asking if EDLC is a bust. What kind of non sports educated moron would try to make that case? From a hometown network too. Sad.
Being a “hometown network” shouldn’t matter. It’s not their job to be fans.
That said – that was the most click-baity garbage headline imaginable. It was gross.
If Renfroe were picked up would he be post-season eligible and would the Reds get any salary relief?
No on the first part and a pretty sure no on the second.
Saw an article about this with a picture of Nick Martini
Renfroe & Bader seemed like pointless acquisitions at the time – especially for a team attempting to make a playoff push, and not really able to waste AB’s on 1-month rentals who can’t hit.
And 3 weeks later, their OPS+ of 18 with the Reds basically confirms what we already knew.
With guys like them, Casali, and Myers it shows the Reds really struggle assessing the ability of 30-year-old veterans. But it also shows they are willing to move on from their mistakes.
Tommy Pham, Chris Drury, the entire bullpen just to name a few counters to that hypothesis…
Pham was not very good with the Reds. Brandon Drury on the other hand was very good. Scooter Gennett was another name you could probably add to this list.
Renfroe, when he joined the Reds was briefly the team leader in homers. A number of us have speculated that the Reds’ losing record at home may be due to the team playing a style of ball better suited to a large park; adding a home run threat was reasonable. Bader is an excellent defender and base stealer, and he, too, could have helped. Neither produced in the limited time the team could spare in a playoff race, but I doubt that they will remain unemployed for long.
Moving on from these guys is key.Krall knows Bell will play them and a lot then he steps in and does what needs to be done and he did and we move on.Renfroe was in a big time slump when he got here but got 9 starts yes 9 starts to show it and he did.