4 Angels moves from 2023 that didn't work out as planned

2) The Hunter Renfroe trade aged very poorly for the LA Angels

The Hunter Renfroe trade was one I was so sure was going to work out. The Angels gave up pitchers who had shown next to nothing in exchange for one of the game's most consistent power bats. The Brewers traded him because they wanted to save some money, not because of his performance.

Unfortunately, even the trades that look the best on paper don't always end up working out. Renfroe got off to a scintillating start in the month of April, posting an .844 OPS with seven home runs in 28 games. His performance the rest of the way was quite bad.

From May 1 until the day he was claimed off waivers, Renfroe slashed .237/.297/.407 with 12 home runs and 36 RBI. He hit seven home runs the first month of the season and combined to only hit five more through the next four months.

Renfroe was horrific all year with runners in scoring position, and his swing decisions made fans lose their minds at certain points. In every full season he had played with the exception of the shortened 2020 season Renfroe had hit at least 25 home runs. That's five years of 25+ home runs, and even in that 2020 season he was at a 30 home run pace with eight long balls in 42 games. He hit just 19 for the Angels and one for the Reds before they had enough.

Renfroe was great that first month and made a couple of fine plays in the field including a game-saving throw in Baltimore, but other than that, was pretty invisible on the field for most of his Angels tenure.