The Cleveland Guardians desperately need to sign Hunter Renfroe
Hunter Renfroe is a right fielder who has done nothing but mash home runs his entire career. The Cleveland Guardians desperately need to sign him this offseason.
This one's pretty simple. The Cleveland Guardians desperately need power and Hunter Renfroe - mostly a right fielder by trade - can provide plenty of it.
It's seemingly a free agent match made in heaven, but let's take a closer look.
The 31-year-old Renfroe is currently on the market, looking for what would be his sixth team in the past four seasons. He's a true baseball nomad, but the one thing he's done at every stop is tear the cover off the ball.
With a very respectable career OPS+ of 108, Renfroe is a power bat through and through, though he's not an all-or-nothing guy - in the past three seasons, he's slashed .249/.309/.470. But any team picking him up is looking at the power he provides. Renfroe has hit 177 home runs in his eight-year career, hitting 30 or more homers twice, in 2019 and 2021. Last season, he hit 20 homers and 31 doubles in 548 plate appearances. At the risk of completely jinxing the guy's health, did we mention that he's been a rock-steady presence in just about every lineup in which he's played?
With the current state of the Cleveland Guardians' offense and outfield situation, Renfroe - even on a two-year deal - makes so much sense it hurts. He made $12 million on a one-year deal with the Angels last season before being placed on waivers, picked up by the Cincinnati Reds, and placed on waivers yet again.
Whatever he gives you defensively, that's fine. And for a guy with as much power as he has, he keeps the strikeouts relatively in check, especially over the past three seasons. Imagining him hitting behind the likes of José Ramírez and Josh Naylor, bringing the much-needed thump to a Guardians lineup that desperately needs it... it's almost too much to bear.
Cleveland needs to make this happen.