Brewers might've made crucial mistake with $3.5M veteran infielder originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Milwaukee Brewers have an issue with their offensive production from their left side of the infield. All of the starters they've sent out there have underwhelmed or haven't performed at a high enough level to have a lot of confidence in them.
One of those players who struggled for the Brewers this season was veteran infielder Luis Rengifo. He signed for $3.5 million this offseason and struggled with Milwaukee to the tune of a .534 OPS in 57 games and 185 at-bats.
As USA Today's Bob Nightengale notes, the Brewers then decided to give up on him and release him earlier this June. It was a justifiable release. But, unfortunately, he's been incredible with the San Diego Padres since then.
Brewers might've made an unavoidable mistake with Luis Rengifo
"The Milwaukee Brewers paid infielder Luis Rengifo $3.5 million to become their everyday third baseman, only to give up on him after 57 games, and release him in June when he was slashing .205/.280/.254 with no homers and 19 RBI," Nightengale writes.
Those offensive numbers are incredibly bleak, and considering the Brewers had the option to turn to some youngsters instead, cutting ties with Rengifo didn't look like the wrong move at the time.
However, since joining the Padres, he's arguably been one of the better players in baseball. But as Rengifo himself said, "It's part of baseball." This was an unavoidable situation for the Brewers.
In 27 games with the Padres, across 93 at-bats, Rengifo has four home runs, a .323 batting average, a .411 on-base percentage, a .473 slugging percentage, and an .884 OPS.
He posted a -0.3 bWAR with the Brewers, and in under half the games played with the Padres, he has already posted a 1.1 bWAR.
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Brewers fans will see this and, understandably, feel like the Brewers made a mistake, and the franchise did. But it wasn't really one they could avoid.
Considering his production, it made little sense for the Brewers to continue playing Rengifo. Releasing him might've been a step too far, but they needed to clear the roster spot for Cooper Pratt and other younger players.
It's just some incredibly bad luck for the Brewers, and fantastic luck for the Padres and Rengifo that he's turned his season around so dramatically with the Padres.
This mistake from the Brewers wasn't necessarily one they could've predicted would actually happen. It's just fortunate that Rengifo isn't doing this with a team like the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, or Los Angeles Dodgers, their top competition in the NL.
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