Brewers: Matt Arnold and Hunter Renfroe Have Varying Thoughts On Trade

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Brewers pulled off their first big trade of the offseason. With one year of team control remaining, the Crew elected to trade Hunter Renfroe to the Angels.

Time and time again the Brewers tend to deal away players prior to them becoming free agents to prevent receiving nothing in return when they walk. This particular trade saved the Brewers a projected $11MM in salary, brought in three pitchers, and freed up opportunities for some of the young outfield prospects.

Despite the obvious savings, Matt Arnold was quick to comment that this was not a salary dump. Rather he said this was a baseball trade. The return package for the Brewers was pitchers Janson Junk, Elvis Peguero, and Adam Seminaris. Overall, the Brewers gotthree quality prospects in which none have super high ceilings.

Here is what Brewers General Manager Matt Arnold had to say about the trade, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.

Matt Arnold says this was a baseball trade, not a payroll dump. He felt the Brewers were dealing from a position of strength with their prospect-heavy OF situation and wanted to add pitching to help the MLB club in '23. Says Janson Junk will get a chance to win a rotation spot.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) November 23, 2022

On the contrary, Hunter Renfroe had a different take on his trade from the Brewers than Matt Arnold.

Here is what now ex-Brewer Hunter Renfroe had to say about being traded according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Just spoke to Hunter Renfroe, who indicated he had a sneaking suspicion he'd be moving on from Milwaukee.

"Unfortunately, we were kind of expecting it. The nature of the beast is you get too expensive type deal for a team like Milwaukee."
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) November 23, 2022

More Renfroe: "Especially with guys like Brandon and Corbin set to make close to $11 million as well. It's kind of the nature of the beast for a middle-market team like Milwaukee. They have a price they have to keep within, and I kind of knew I might be the odd man out."
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) November 23, 2022

Renfroe's comments are straight to the point; he believes that he was traded due to payroll limitations. It's easy for him to believe this given Milwaukee's history and the fact that he was one of the teams most productive hitters last season.

Renfroe departing also opens the door for Garrett Mitchell, Esteury Ruiz, Sal Frelick, Joey Weimer, and the recently acquired Blake Perkins. Perkins was acquired just a day after the Renfroe trade, though he isn't necessarily a straight lineup replacement for him.

Similar to how Arnold and Renfroe have varying thoughts on the trade, the same thoughts exist among fans as well. Some Brewers fans are used to the fact that the team has to operate under certain payroll constraints and moves like the Renfroe trade are just business as usual for the franchise.

Meanwhile, it might be frustrating for other fans that the Brewers' recent actions have been parting ways with proven MLB contributors and taking flyers on unproven players instead. That's nice for getting to see young players play, but not for the consistency that's sometimes needed to make deep playoff runs.

Different sentiments are on display in the comments from Arnold and Renfroe. It's interesting that they seem to mimick the Brewers fan base as well.

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