Brewers Sign Luis Rengifo to 1yr Deal

[Jastro]

 

[wallus]

He is good against LHP. Not my first choice but better than what we had.

[Jastro]

Contract details:

 

[long ball]

I’m pleasantly surprised. I was expecting Eddys Leonard and Hamilton to wind up as the 3b platoon to start the year. 
 

he’s nothing special, but it at least takes away some of the risk we took on by trading Durbin. 
 

im satisfied. 

[wallus]

With that, I expect the Opening Day position players to be set assuming no injuries.

[Samurai Bucky]

I'm guessing they signed him to establish the floor at 3B.  Other players will work their way towards getting more playing time and the cream will rise to the top by the end of the year.  I think I heard Murphy say that Durbin didn't start out 2025 playing third base.

It keeps the players hungry.

[torts]

16 minutes ago, Jastro said:

Contract details:

 

Imagine what he'd have to do to earn that $10 million next year 🤣

[TURBO]

Meh.

Well, that's that I guess.

Hopefully he's just a placeholder until Wilken gets called up at some point...

[Dadbauer]

You could do worse for a bench guy when someone else emerges as a replacement midseason.

[liveforoctober]

Of note, MLB.com says Rengifo played in 161 games last year and at least one game at 6 different positions.

2B (74) 3B (76) SS (1) LF (2) CF (1) RF (7)

He was a 2 WAR player for 3 straight years before last. Maybe getting him away from a 'realist' organization will unlock him as well ;)

[bensheeps]

4 minutes ago, Dadbauer said:

You could do worse for a bench guy when someone else emerges as a replacement midseason.

Agreed.  Best case scenario is he fills 3rd base well enough to start the year until Wilken or Jett proves to be ready in AAA.  Also that he plays well enough to fill the backup role after the middle of the year.

[Dadbauer]

I like this - last year we started with Dunn and Capra at 3B and ended up with Durbin being backed up by Monestario and Siegler. What are the chances that another contributor (Williams, Wilken, etc.) comes up midseason and provides roughly Durbin-like production being backed up by Hamilton and Rengifo. If someone DOES take that 3B job and run with it, I think it's a net positive overall.

[StearnsFTW]

Fine.

 

I'd much rather have Harrison/Rengifo than Quintana (or whoever)/Durbin 

[ClosetBrewerFan]

He had a significant offensive dropoff last year, but he will only be 29 this year so not too old.  Its reasonable to think he will rebound some.  I'd expect a 700 OPS at best, which is probably fine and at least sets a floor for our 3b situation.  This will give our prospects more time in the minors and if someone really hits, can easily replace Rengifo or enter into a platoon.  Rengifo hits LH's very well.

[owbc]

Typical "buy low" move from the Brewers with our usual preference for defensive flexibility. Had a 110 or greater OPS+ in both 2024 and 2023. Fell off a cliff last year but Savant suggests that he mostly got unlucky. His xwOBA was basically the same as 2024, xSLG actually went up. 

I'm pleasantly surprised, I thought we were going to resort to dumpster diving but Rengifo is a proven major leaguer who could play every day if we really needed him to. His glove may be what ultimately costs him playing time, since he's not at the level of our other options. 

[wiguy94]

If we can get the 2024 versions of Rengifo and Hamilton it would probably work out with those two splitting time at 3B (or 2B) and Hamilton being the late inning defensive replacement.

[duewizard]

Don't hate the move. I'd love it if he could do something in the 95-105 wRC+ range. Hopefully by June he is a bench option with prospects overtaking him,

Probably the last significant move until opening day, barring any major injuries.

[homer]

He hurt his wrist in 2024. Might have not fully recovered last year 

[Joseph Zarr]

I think it is fairly simple to at least leave the chance Rengifo rebounds and gives similar offensive production as Durbin in 2025 and vice versa a possible 2025 Rengifo-like regression for Durbin. Doesn't mean this happens, obviously but it is a reasonable 'risk' to take given the pitching the Brewers just acquired. Given, imho, we have no upper tier prospects really remotely ready to step in at the hot corner to start 2026, this also takes any unnecessary aggressive promotions based purely out of need out of the equation. Solid baseline need-based MLB-proven stop gap.

[Jim French Stepstool]

47 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I think it is fairly simple to at least leave the chance Rengifo rebounds and gives similar offensive production as Durbin in 2025 and vice versa a possible 2025 Rengifo-like regression for Durbin. Doesn't mean this happens, obviously but it is a reasonable 'risk' to take given the pitching the Brewers just acquired. Given, imho, we have no upper tier prospects really remotely ready to step in at the hot corner to start 2026, this also takes any unnecessary aggressive promotions based purely out of need out of the equation. Solid baseline need-based MLB-proven stop gap.

Yep. If you believe in the coming infield talent in the organization, the tradeoff is you basically upped your pitching depth in exchange for a possible one-year reduction in 3B play. And depending on whether the effects of the wrist injury lingered, Rengifo might be a nice bounce back candidate. I remember 2-3 years ago wishing we would've looked into picking him up to beef up the INF.

[wallus]

Playing platoons and matchups would be advantageous for the left side of our infield. I don't know if they plan on playing Hamilton as much but I would be in favor of that.

Gotta assume the 7/8/9 is some kind of combination of Mitchell/Perkins, Regnifo and Ortiz now. The top of our lineup will need to do most of the heavy lifting offensively.

[igor67]

Not saying it is over 50% or anything but between platoon advantages, bounce back and regression there is now some level of chance our 3rd basemen out perform Durbin.

[patrickgpe]

This is fine, givens Fischer a year to develop. Allows Jett more time to play in the minors and probably focus on being an outfielder anyway. 

[Bulldogboy]

I like that he can switch hit and fill in around the diamond if need be. He has hit prior to last year so I will take it given the options a day ago.

[jay87shot]

This is solid. Hamilton and Rengifo are both decent utility guys. I still kind of like Ortiz at 3B and Turang at SS with those 2 at 2B. Hamilton and Rengifo have both been good defensively at 2B. I have faith Turang will be a good SS so I think this benefits us most.

Rengifo does have a .300 year, 17 HR year, and 24 sb year (different years) so there is some solid upside. If Williams proves ready in a month or 2 it is easy to move him to a utility role or find a trade. This is probably the best non big trade move we could have made. I am pretty confident he can hit .250/.300/.400 with decent defense and baserunning. Hamilton has been slightly better against rhp and Rengifo is better against LHP so a platoon could have a nice moneyball effect.