Spare Parts: Tepid reactions to Andrew Benintendi signing
Here’s one question about the Andrew Benintendi signing that doesn’t feel germane to the most important parts of the conversation about how much he helps the White Sox, but nods toward why there’s an unimpressed undercurrent:
Shouldn’t a franchise-record contact sell some jerseys? Is anybody going to rush out and buy the Benintendi City Connect, or quaintly modify the AJ Pollock jerseys they got the year before?
Meanwhile, the contract lasted less than a day in Chicago news cycles before news leaked that the Cubs were signing Dansby Swanson for a contract that guarantees him $104 million more.
The context of the Benintendi signing automatically saps some of the excitement, because the White Sox self-govern their budget down to moves that attempt to narrow the spectrum of outcomes. As I wrote Saturday morning, it’s hard to imagine Benintendi’s contract causing any plans to unravel, but he seems to lack the power to impact teams in the opposite direction. He’s a complementary player on a team that is crossing its fingers for stars to solidify.
I tried to separate Benintendi from the local history when writing about the signing because White Sox fans have to live with it every day. It’s suffocating, and when the team has opted for less in similar scenarios, it’s a relief that they chose something.
But when you’re writing for a national outlet and baseball fans who might not know why the White Sox came up short, that context can’t be dodged. And when it’s front-and-center of the analysis, the signing looks … off. Not necessarily bad, not necessarily a disaster, but weird.
Here’s Mike Petriello at MLB.com:
The early projections suggest that they just added their sixth-best bat, which isn’t nothing, especially in a weak division, and $15 million per year is maybe just what the going rate is now for an average player who has a shot to be slightly more, at least at first. It’s just surprising to see a player who has been worth 2+ WAR just twice get five years — and one wonders if a shorter bet on a rebound year from a more powerful bat like Michael Conforto might have been better worth the risk.
And here’s Keith Law at The Athletic:
I wrote in my free-agent rankings that I thought Andrew Benintendi would get the largest contract ever for a player who didn’t hit 10 homers or steal 10 bases in his walk year. I didn’t think it would be (*waves hands around frantically*) this large. The White Sox just gave Benintendi five years and $75 million off that platform season, and while there could still be some more offense here for a new team to unlock, this contract all but assumes Chicago is going to find it.
White Sox fans or true third parties, it seems like everybody just wanted the team to reach for more in order to revive the idea of contending. For the time being, the White Sox pivoted to reaching back in time.
Spare Parts
Here’s James Fegan with a great story on Christian Mena, filling in a lot of gaps about the person after a season that forced us to become acquainted with the player. This part jumped out to me, partially because of the bonus of Remembering a Guy.
Mena is listed at 6-foot-2 and gets the “projectable” label plenty, but he’s already started to fill out. And with their belief that rehab pitching coach Donnie Veal ironed out the spin efficiency issues with Mena’s fastball, the Sox would be perfectly happy if it sat 92-93 mph with consistent carry, above-average extension and the ability to reach back for 95 mph when he needs it. He is young, he has not had many long outings and just cleared 100 innings in a season for the first time, but for the most part has done all of this in spurts already.
The selling point on Mena is a curveball — that he knows how to use it, and what it means for him to have a handle on these facets of pitching at such a young age.
Bennett Karoll set up a fundraiser for a billboard near Guaranteed Rate Field, and he’s raised more than twice the requested amount.
Lucas Giolito’s going for two Best Shape of His Life spring training stories in a row, with this one focusing less on bulk and more on movement. He’s also doing other stuff — participating in clean-ups, joining the MLBPA board — that inspires lunkheads to auto-respond “MAYBE HE SHOULD WORK ON HIS PITCHING INSTEAD.”
- JAWS and the 2023 Hall of Fame Ballot: Mark Buehrle – FanGraphs
- Haugh: Mark Buehrle’s Hall of Fame case gets stronger — 670 The Score
Jay Jaffe offers a fair-but-unhelpful assessment on Mark Buehrle, but he’s gaining votes this time around regardless, as David Haugh was the latest member of the Chicago media to change his mind.
With the Twins striking out on the shortstop market, Derek Falvey has to take the scenic route toward improving Minnesota’s roster. It looks like it’s starting with Joey Gallo replacing Max Kepler, who might be used to solve another position of need.
One of the reasons for the unprecedented length of the winter’s biggest contracts is that the lower average annual value lowers the luxury-tax hit. The major markets are doing a good job of keeping it reasonable – Carlos Correa’s contract ends at 40, but it’s not entirely unreasonable that he might still be playing – but it’s the kind of thing that might form a wedge issue among owners, especially if contracts start advancing into the 40s.
The good news is that the lockout didn’t have much of an effect on injury numbers, at least relative to the disruption of COVID-19 related stoppages and shortages the previous two seasons. The bad news is that nobody told the White Sox.
Lol, I assume Jerry could pull strings to prevent or pull down the billboards, no?
that’s a great PR move…
I wonder if this season could turn ugly from a fan relation perspective at the down arrow if the team starts flat. I dont remember all fan grumblings over the years but this offseason and the end of last season really felt a lot more outgoing and public anger rather then internal dour on message boards and whatnot.
17 of their first 29 games are vs playoff teams, so they could certainly start flat very easily. I think many have vowed not to attend games because they feel betrayed – rightfully – by this ownership. I doubt Beni changes that for most of those people.
I am okay with the Benintendi signing because it indicates a major change in the thinking of Rick Hahn that could prove helpful to the team going forward, namely, that outfielders, not first basemen, should play outfield. However, I have to admit I am slightly more excited by the possibility that Billy Hamilton might be back on the team.
I think the billboard is the most uplifting news about the Sox in the past 3 years, other than them being done with La Russa.
These thoughts on selling the team are ridiculous. They paid $19 million and per Forbes, the value now is $1.76 billion. With Jerry in his upper 80’s, the difference in how that profit is taxed makes it an easy decision for Reinsdorf and the other partners, who are also aging, to retain the team until Jerry’s passing.
The best Sox fans can hope for is for Jerry to realize he doesn’t have the mental capacity to run such a large organization at his age and turn the day-to-day reins to someone else while he remains a silent owner.
I think it’s more an outlet for venting frustration than actual belief it will convince JR to sell.
Yup. Similar to the “Fire GarPax” signs near the United Center for All-Star Weekend. Just something to embarrass the product a bit, if not the person.
It’s not about the sign, I’m speaking of the constant talk of selling the team. If you want Jerry to sell cuz he’s too cheap to spend enough to win a WS, do you really expect him to sell before he dies and create a huge tax bomb?
To me the focus should be on whether an 87 year old man is capable of running a major sports franchise.
My dad is 92 and very with it both mentally and physically but could not come close to successfully run a large organization
JR doesn’t run it though, as Jim has intimated several times he’s pretty much an absentee owner now. What you need is him to either start caring again or put it in the hands of someone who does. The true fear is that the current arraignment could go on another decade.
But in a Schrodlingers cat kind of way, isn’t the absentee owner the one that picked the absentee manager?
Fingers in the pie, my friend, fingers in the pie.
We tried to get a, “Die Jerry, Die,” billboard, but I guess they found our German turn of phrase unacceptable.
I read some speculation that he might be willing to sell for the right offer — thought being that the market to own MLB teams seems hot recently, and he might get enough of a premium to make the tax consequences irrelevant. No idea how true that is, if at all, but it’s at least plausible.
But having read more about this whole thing recently, I’m concerned about the Sox ownership structure. It seems JR owns a relatively small minority share, some mystery investor bought 30% of the team recently, and there are various other owners with various other percentages in the team. If a Steve-Cohen-type wanted to buy the team as his plaything and throw money at it to win, he might still find it difficult to buy out enough minority owners to do so. And if the team ends up being “owned” by a corporate structure composed of only minority interests, I’d expect it might well be run similarly to how it is now.
If anyone has better information or knowledge than that about any likely sale of the Sox (even after JR passes), I’d love to hear it.
My understanding is that, regardless of shares, Reinsdorf is the managing partner and so if he wants to sell the whole franchise, he can and the minority owners would just get paid out.
What stands out to me is national writers like Petriello being fully aware that Benintendi and Conforto are either/or signings for the Sox. No chance they sign them both.
Conforto hasn’t played since 2021. His agent is persona non grata with the White Sox. Said agent also lied repeatedly last off season about his client’s health. But I would be okay with a cheap one year contract for around $5MM. PS: Only in MLB is $5MM cheap. Gosh what a world.
The LaRussa hiring and the way 2022 played out has left a very sour taste in many fans mouth. For me personally, the LaRussa hire was a giant middle finger from Jerry to the fans. Benintendi is a decent enough player but it’s just the Sox treading water as they always do. This team is in no shape or form ready to compete for a championship.
Count me as one of the many who feels very little about the Benintendi signing….
Doubt they have the prospect capital to pull it off but I still think they need two high ceiling additions:
Finish the winter by trading Hendriks and a prospect to Yankees for Gleyber Torres to play 2nd (Graveman and ReyLo are the closers til one of them claims it outright) and package of prospects (Colas, Montgomery, pitchers) to Pirates for Reynolds…. That would make the everyday lineup a true threat in the AL; and the defense improvement alone ( by having 3 real MLB outfielders) could be worth 4-6 wins.
TA
Benintendi
Robert
Reynolds
Eloy
Gleyber
Yaz
Vaughn
Moncada
That lineup would make me very intrigued … and make me think they really could have 30-40% chance to beat the Astros in a postseason
Sorry, but I think Hendricks is a drastic overpay for Torres and giving up both our top prospects for Reynolds is one too. Hendricks should get 2 bona fide MLBs and 2-3 prospects in return based on his current market value. I would consider Lopez and Ruiz to AZ for Varsho a better deal than your proposal for Reynolds.
Torres had a WAR over 4 last year. How is Hendriks possibly an overpay? And why would the Yankees trade a 4 WAR 2b for a 35 year old closer? I think it is pretty much a given that it would take more than Liam to get Torres if the Sox actually wanted him.
Don’t disagree— just hope they get desperate for a closer to end their off-season and that we have a prospect they like to add to the deal to make it remotely plausible…
Yankees are certainly in win now mode, I think they should be able to find a closer without giving up their 2b. I doubt a Torres trade is possible.
Probably a better chance of getting a 2b in a trade with the Dodgers or a couple other teams. Lux isn’t as exciting a player as Torres but is pretty solid, and had power in the minors so he has upside. And he is left handed, under control through 2026. Dodgers have other high end prospects coming up so they might be willing. As long as it would not take more than Liam for Lux, I think Lux is a very reasonable return considering Liam will be gone in 2 years and Lux might be a very solid player, at low cost as well allowing them to spend on other needs.
Lux is their starting SS so you are not going to get him and it also makes it difficult to get Busch who projects to 2B for now. I think this trade window may have closed with Swanson to the Cubs.
The Dodgers really need a closer. I don’t think they would trade Lux, but they can move Chris Taylor to 2nd and acquire an outfielder. Liam and Sosa for Busch?
I forgot about LA losing Turner. We’ll see, going with Sosa might not turn out to be the worst thing in the world. Other than Segura there is nobody I would want them to sign.
Hendrix and another piece or two (maybe Crochet, maybe a couple mid-level minor league players) for Jansen, Biggo, and Adam Duvall? Not much of an upgrade as such for 2nd, but a lefty to pair with one of the RH youngsters. Duvall just comes as a signing from clearing Hendriks’ payroll hit.
Maybe I’m weird for always thinking of it this way, but I always think “how much is this player worth in free market $ value” when trying to estimate trades.
I keep thinking that some of us are drastically overvaluing Hendriks. Some team gets him for 2 years and has to pay him $29 million in salary. Would Hendriks have gotten $11 million more than that on the free market? $16-21 million more? Some of the trade ideas out there are things like Hendriks straight up for multiple guys with multiple years of control on cheap contracts. As you can see, I don’t think Hendriks alone would be enough to get Jansen and Biggio from Toronto, let alone bigger returns.
Don’t love trading Liam, but paying him, Kelly and Graveman $32 million for 160 innings while starting 2022 and 2023 with no right fielder or starting second baseman would be one of Hahn’s repeat fatal roster construction and payroll allocation decisions, in my opinion. And thus, trading Liam and a prospect for a potential 2-3 season star solution at 2b and then selling the farm (yeah they’re are the top two prospects but if we’re “in the championship window” let’s make it a World Series championship window rather than a “Central Division championship and pray for major luck in the postseason” window) for a prime age elite outfielder so that they are running out a lineup of players who are all playing positions they should be would give me authentic hope and interest in the 2023 season.
If you acquire Reynolds, I wouldn’t trade both top prospects for him. That would be an overpay. But a package headlined by Colas, Mena, Vera would be a decent package. If the Pirates wouldn’t take that, then I would go with Colas in RF. The Astros let Correa walk and replaced him with Jeremy Pena, who wasn’t even a Top-100 prospect. That turned out pretty well for them And Colas would not have to hit in the middle of the order. He probably won’t hit higher than 7th to start, so the pressure would not be great.
I would still rather have a young lefty like Michael Busch or Nolan Gorman in a trade for Liam.
I think a lineup of:
TA
Benintendi
Robert
Eloy
Yoan
Vaughn
Colas
Yaz
Busch/Gorman
is very intriguing. And it is rather young, with 6 of the guys controlled for at least 3 years. And I know that most people on here have given up on Moncada. I want to see what a real manager and better hitting coach will do for him. I still think he’s a solid 3-4 WAR player when healthy and motivated.
Actually, except for TA, Yoan and Yaz, the other six are controlled thru at least 2026, which is 4 years.
That’s interesting that you believe Moncada could benefit from new instruction. I hadn’t considered that.
Reynolds has three years of control remaining and entering his age-28 season. I think you’re grossly underestimating his trade value.
Bingo. The Pirates know they can ask for a ton in return for him with all that control remaining. I highly doubt Colas, Mena, and Vera gets it done. If that was the level of talent they’d accept for him, another (smarter) team would’ve already met or beat it by now. They’d be crazy not to ask for a couple top 100 prospects and at least one MLB piece for him at this point.
And whether it’s just posturing or not, the Pirates may honestly believe they can contend in the next 3 years. If they do, they can hold out for a crazy package now and maybe settle on moving him in a year or two.
If I had to guess, the Pirates would respond with asking for the Sox to include Montgomery and more on top of the first 3.
You’re probably right. I just don’t think the Sox should move their only 2 bona fide prospects for a guy who is very good, but not a superstar.
I would go with Colas or supplement him with Conforto for 1 year.
You know the reason you think that? Because this organization has been so shitty at developing their prospects that when one or two actually ADVANCES in the rankings instead of regressing to oblivion within a year of being drafted we get attached to them because we don’t know when we’ll ever see their like again.
This fear is an unconscious acknowledgement that we have zero faith the system can replenish top prospects internally. If you believe your team has a healthy pipeline you don’t give a rat’s ass about parting with prospects because there’s always more on the way.
That’s true. We are so used to having no homegrown prospects, that the thought of getting rid of the few that we have seems unreasonable.
It’s why I keep seeing people overvalue what our prospects are actually worth. “Valuable within the White Sox system” does not equate to “valuable to other MLB teams” in most cases. There’s a reason other teams have been pulling off trades using lesser prospects and getting players the White Sox could probably have used in return.
The sad fact of the matter is that in an ideal world, Montgomery is exactly the kind of relatively young middle infielder who’d get a deal done as the 2nd or 3rd piece. And for the Sox he probably has to headline a deal.
I don’t see chopping of the top of our prospect list for RF when an all cash option (Conforto) is still available and blends well with our prospects (Colas). I’m fine with Liam+ for Torres but would also consider other options including just going with internals. For a one year rental I’ve been coming back around to a Merrifield option, especially if we could base it around a trade for Kelly+. Resolve RF and then relentlessly pursue the 2B options and if needed fall back to 3-4 guys battling it out in ST.
Oh and any lineup that has Yas higher than 8th is wrong. 🙂
I think that tossing around Montgomery and super young prospects of that caliber, as trade bait would absolutely gut an already gutted minors. I know it’s all about value in return, but the Sox need more than that one or two pieces to be a true contender, imho.
On the flip side, Hendrix has little value and at 35 has shown hints that age is taking a physical toll. I would trade him, slot Reylo into closer, hope he crushes it, and then trade him the following year to bring in more talent/prospects.
Reylo has been a nice comeback story but I don’t think he is a high leverage innings type pitcher. More likely Graveman gets the closer job I would think, if they actually traded Liam which is far from a given. Reylo is fine in current role, I think not so good as starter with potential to be awful as closer.
However you want to measure it, the difference betwen the farm as it is and after trading any of their prospects is negligible right now. Gutted is gutted.
I love how the possibility of being more competitive in whatever remains of this window is outweighed by our farm system going from, like, 22nd in the league to 30th.
The window, at least for me, slammed shut with The Russa hiring. That’s the reason for my emphasis on using the assets we have now to help develop a future window….I think they have a word for that.
Given the course is already set for 2023 and presumably 2024 (barring some serious failure in 2023), I think we can probably put a cork in the possibility that they’re going to tear down.
Benintendi is an upgrade in the OF v anyone who played LF last year, and a LH bat. He’s 28 years old so a five year deal takes him only to age 33. When he was on the Red Sox the national baseball media LOVED HIM! At KC they forgot about him; on the Yankees he was injured. Does anyone on this board think the White Sox get any respect from the national media? Like Fox forgetting the Sox won the WS in 2005….
Now we need a new 2B and a new RF. I still don’t know why Segura hasn’t been linked to any team in the FA rumor mill. What’s wrong with the guy? He’s a plus defender and above average bat. I don’t get it.
The aging curve of ML 2B, maybe?
Tony was allowed to manage for two years, and the highest contract they’ve ever given out is for a slightly above average player. Any lack of respect this team/ownership gets is deserved.
Benintendi had top prospect shine still on him in Boston. And it’s not unfair to describe him as an average to slightly above player; i wouldn’t expect the nat’l media to be so tuned in to the Sox to understand that the specific of slightly above average player Benintendi is, is what they need.
Segura not being in the rumor mill just means his agent doesn’t usually leak rumors as a strategy.
Segura is arguably the best free agent remaining on the market right now. He can wait for the right offer to come around and be patient. I’m sure plenty of teams have inquired and his agent quoted a price higher than they were willing to pay at the time, but as more and more options come off the board the more leverage he gets with the teams that missed out. I would guess he’s asking for a three year deal and expecting at least two plus an option and buyout.
In a vacuum there is nothing wrong with the Benintendi signing. The problem is all the other holes the front office either hasn’t addressed or half-assed the past decade or so.
The problem is also that the thing the roster really needs is dingers. And, well. That’s not his strength.
In 2020 the Sox had some of the best team chemistry in the league.
Signing Keuchal was perhaps questionable from a clubhouse perspective, but his 2020 performance was good enough to cover for that— just like Cease in 2022. Everyone loves a teammate that brings you wins, even if they aren’t your favorite person.
It’s still a shame we didn’t offer Wheeler enough to make up for the tax difference between Illinois and PA. If we had offered him $15m post tax more than the Phillies, I’m pretty sure he would be on the southside, regardless of where his wife’s family lives.
Unlike plenty of other teams, we didn’t have players going out and getting Covid in 2020. Maybe there was some luck involved, but interviews with players seemed to say that everyone really took pandemic caution seriously.
In 2021 we had one of the best/fastest vaccine adoption. rates and chemistry was still good despite the ridiculous defensive changes TLR brought in and all his other inexcusable mistakes.
We had brought in Eaton though, which felt like an act of self sabotage in terms of keeping the clubhouse good. The Hendricks signing helped through, and thankfully Eaton couldn’t stick around. Shedding Keuchal last year is great, but losing Abreu’s leadership is a catastrophe.
Since 2021, two of our biggest signings are Graveman and Benetendi (both antivax).
If there’s a big Covid-mutation surge next spring or fall that ends up taking half our players out during a crucial time, I’m going to look back on this with even more animosity than I already have. It was all so unnecessary.
Yeah, it’s not like anybody who’s been vaxxed gets Covid.
(eye roll)
Look, nobody wants to talk about COVID or vaccines anymore. I probably care more about COVID than virtually everyone due to my job. But I get that people are over it at this point. I don’t blame anyone for feeling that way. We all dealt with 2+ years of a pandemic and most people did the right thing by taking reasonable precautions and getting vaxxed. As I’ve said before, the anti-vaxxers are scum. But most people aren’t that way, they just don’t want to think about it anymore. That’s fine. Sometimes I don’t want to think about COVID anymore too, but I don’t have a choice.
The Sox’s season isn’t going to be derailed by COVID even if they have some unvaccinated players. MLB doesn’t want to deal with that anymore, so they’ve already relaxed their rules – and to be fair, that’s reasonable since the virus itself is different than 2020 and the vast majority of players are vaccinated. So there’s no point in raising alarm about that.
I don’t have many expectations for sports teams. I’d like them to win, and I don’t want to feel embarrassed for cheering for them. But everyone can set the line of what constitutes embarrassing where they want. There’s no point in putting baseball players on a pedestal, just like artists or musicians, you have to accept that most of them are probably pretty terrible people about whom the less we know the better. Honestly, when it comes to the White Sox, it’s embarrassing enough to be a fan of this sorry ass franchise that them adding an anti-vaxxer or two doesn’t really make things any worse.
i dont think anything benintendi will do can remotely match the embarrassment of l’affare laRoche
I’m expect many, if not most, of the athletes I like best are not great people, to put it kindly. It’s one of the thoughts I have every once in a while before I push it away b/c I love sports.
@VanillaIceIceBaby
You start your rant with … “Look, nobody wants to talk about COVID or vaccines anymore.” Then you proceed to write three lengthy paragraphs infusing Covid and the jabs into each paragraph. Take your OWN advice and shut the f**k up.
On my guys’ trips we have one rule: no drama. Visiting sports websites are the same way: no politics (or Covid) talk. We can get that content in a myriad of other places.
Great story.
Thanks!
Congratulations on having friends, young man. Maybe one of them can teach you reading comprehension and the definition of words like “rant” and “drama,” or help your sense of humor advance beyond 1990. I won’t say any more, not because of your devastating wit, but because you’re not worth any more of my time.
Now Vanilla, that was a very plain reply – actually comical. You try to insult me by dissing my “reading comprehension.” That’s okay. I can take it. Here’s the definition of rant: to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner. I’d say that your previous post was … a rant. That’s my opinion and I’m sure others would agree.
They may not have liked the way I pointed it out – that’s fair. But, it’s a rant nonetheless. Here’s some pretty sh*tty things you wrote: “As I’ve said before, the anti-vaxxers are scum” and “There’s no point in putting baseball players on a pedestal, just like artists or musicians, you have to accept that most of them are probably pretty terrible people about whom the less we know the better.” I have no idea what tragic events happened to you that would possess you to disparage people like that. Regardless of what motivated you to write it, those words come across as you venting – or also known as a … rant.
My point still stands – let’s stick to baseball.
It’s easy to see how someone as easy-going as you avoids drama.
Hmmm, I’m sure I prefaced the drama reference with when I’m on a guys’ trip – which I’m not on at the moment.
But, when there is drama, it takes the alpha to restore order.
Snowflakes tend to get rattled. Was it the content or tone of my comment that triggered you? Personally, I think my content was spot on. He was rambling about covid,etc. and I don’t think this is the site for that. Do you disagree? As for tone … yes, probably harsh, but not any worse than what his comments contained.
Alpha? Snowflakes? Triggered?
It is impossible for me to take seriously a poster that purports that his/her/their (I don’t know your pronouns) comments are about avoiding politics on a sports site who then uses such politically charged language.
Yeeeeeeeep. “The only politics allowed are mine.”
If you’re the one saying you’re an alpha, you most assuredly are not an alpha.
Oh please, another triggered commenter. Can everyone please go back to my original comment. Vanilla rips “anti-vaxers”, rips baseball players, artists and musicians – and y’all have deaf ears. I call him out on it and rightfully point out that this site is for talking sports – leave the politics and covid out – and that’s when the snowflakes come out cause you don’t like the tone of how I wrote it. But wait … it’s Galactus the alpha coming to the rescue. It’s his self-anointed name so he must be a superhero.
“There’s no point in putting baseball players on a pedestal, just like artists or musicians, you have to accept that most of them are probably pretty terrible people about whom the less we know the better.” I read this and I think – that’s wrong. But you and others here … silence. That’s all I need to know.
You seem quite triggered by my assertion you’re not an alpha and just an egotistical blowhard. Do you need a safe space, little snowflake?