January 3: The White Sox have actually formally revealed the Benintendi finalizing and also supplied a details agreement failure. The outfielder will certainly get a $3MM finalizing bonus offer, adhered to by an $8MM wage in 2023, $16.5 MM for the following 3 years and afterwards $14.5 MM in 2027. The club’s 40-man lineup is currently at 39.
December 16: The White Sox have actually accepted a five-year agreement with free-agent outfielder Andrew Benintendi, reports ESPN’s Jesse Rogers ( using Twitter). Benintendi, a customer of Excel Sports Management, will certainly be ensured $75MM on the agreement, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Benintendi, 28, was theNo 7 total choice in the 2015 draft by the Red Sox and also placed as the sporting activity’sNo 1 possibility at Baseball America, ESPN and also MLB.com before his major league launching. The jogger approximately Aaron Judge for American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2017, he kipped down a great.290/.366/.465 batting line with 18 crowning achievement and also 21 takes a year later on in 2018, apparently establishing the phase for him to burst out right into complete blown fame.
That never ever actually taken place, nonetheless. Four complete periods have actually passed because that time, and also Benintendi has actually rather worked out in as a strong normal in left area however not the seasonal All-Star he seemed very early in his major league period. He’ll normally pinch hit typical, attract a lot of strolls and also play excellent protection– Benintendi won a Gold Glove in 2021– however he’s never ever worked out in as a constant power danger. Benintendi’s 20 crowning achievement in 2017 still stand as his occupation high, and also he struck simply 5 crowning achievement in 521 plate looks in between the Royals and also Yankees in 2022 prior to a broken hamate in his wrist finished his period.
Over the previous 4 periods, Benintendi has actually uploaded a consolidated.276/.345/.417 batting line with 35 crowning achievement and also 27 takes. He’s constantly been difficult to start out, however never ever extra so than in 2022, when he fanned in simply 14.8% of his plate looks. It’s feasible Benintendi took a much more traditional, contact-oriented technique that resulted both in him striking less crowning achievement however additionally placing the sphere in play with even more regularity. Regardless, the absence of punchouts most likely interested a White Sox club that uploaded the seventh-lowest strikeout price in all of baseball in 2015 and also enjoyed as the Guardians won the AL Central with without a doubt the video game’s least expensive strikeout price.
An edge outfielder and also left-handed bat to aid cancel a greatly right-handed club were both clear requirements for the South Siders, and also Benintendi can examine both boxes. He’ll strike at or near the top of the schedule, with Eloy Jimenez like moving right into a key DH duty since Benintendi gets on board. The Sox additionally bid goodbye to stalwart initially baseman Jose Abreu this offseason, which got rid of the means for Andrew Vaughn to relocate from best area, where he placed as one of MLB’s worst protectors at any type of setting, to his all-natural setting of very first base.
Removing Vaughn and also Jimenez from normal outfield job would certainly’ve boosted the outfield protection despite the substitutes, however connecting Benintendi right into the mix gives a significant upgrade. In 5775 occupation innings in left area, he’s been attributed with 32Defensive Runs Saved It’s remarkable that Statcast’s Outs Above Average really feels fairly in a different way, securing Benintendi at -15 because exact same time, although that’s manipulated by one -10 period in 2019 (a period that DRS concurs was poor from a protective viewpoint). Benintendi and also facility fielder Luis Robert offer the Sox a set of above-average protectors in the outfield, although if the prepare for best area is to make use of Gavin Sheets as a bridge to possibility Oscar Colas, a minimum of among the 3 outfield areas will certainly still have the possible to be a protective responsibility.
The White Sox opened up the 2022 period with a club document $193MM pay-roll, and also the enhancement of Benintendi numbers to place them right back right into that array once again. Benintendi additionally presses Chicago’s luxury-tax journal a little bit north of $205MM, per Roster Resource, though that’s still $28MM from the $233MM very first rate of penalization. The Sox can still make use of aid at keystone and also can stand to grow their bench, so it’s most likely that succeeding steps will certainly press the group to a franchise-record pay-roll momentarily period (disallowing a profession that loses a present agreement).
Somewhat extremely, the $75MM assurance provides Benintendi the biggest agreement in White Sox franchise business background, directly covering Yasmani Grandal, that had actually held the document at $73MM. The ChiSox have actually used greater than this in some prominent freelance quests over the last few years, most especially supplying greater than $200MM to Manny Machado and also greater than $100MM toZack Wheeler Both gamers, naturally, eventually authorized somewhere else.
