An Easy Way to Improve the Outfield
The Royals’ rival, the Guardians, designated an underperforming outfielder, Ramón Laureano, for assignment May 20, 2024 and called up someone from AAA. Laureano has been arguably better than Hunter Renfroe in 2024. At least his OBP, WAR and OPS+ are higher than Renfroe's.
But a guaranteed contract of 13 million dollars can make a general manager hesitant to push the DFA button. Hunter Renfroe has started 37 of the first 49 games in right field (76% of the games). It seems as if Renfroe is in the starting lineup in the hope that he will start hitting like an average major leaguer again (his career OPS+ is 105). But this misguided hope is like a person buying a lottery ticket to get out of debt. The crazy thing is the investor has already bought a penny stock that is actually paying real dividends (see chart below).
Picollo doesn’t even have to make a roster move. Quatraro doesn’t have to beg for more reinforcements. Just start Blanco 75% of the time and let Renfroe be the fourth outfielder. Blanco offers so much proven production and value on offense and defense. Blanco has been making an above average, positive contribution to the team with limited opportunities. Overall, Renfroe has been having a negative impact on the team.
The Royals are contending for the division! However, the Royals decision-makers resemble the two bottom dwellers in the division who have allowed similar poor producers to get a hefty quantity of plate appearances: Colt Keith for the Tigers has an OPS+ of 50 in 143 plate appearances. And our Dear Old Friend Nicky Lopez has an OPS+ of 48 in 137 plate appearances for the White Sox.
The front office and manager need to be making decisions that are more strategic like the Guardians, who DFAed the veteran Laureano. It seems clear to me that Blanco has earned more playing time and Renfroe deserves less. Blanco has played sporadically. With more consistent playing time, he could significantly improve the woeful offensive production of the outfielders.