The Hot Stove action is finally heating up ahead of the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline.
The New York Yankees acquired All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night in exchange for pitching prospects Chandler Champlain, Beck Way, and TJ Sikkema.
The Yankees acquiring Benintendi is particularly interesting when considering that he’s unvaccinated and missed Kansas City’s trip to Canada to face the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in July. New York has a three-game series in Toronto in September, and it’s possible the Yankees and Blue Jays meet in the postseason.
However, Benintendi reportedly will get the vaccine, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that even the Blue Jays were trying to trade for the outfielder.
Benintendi, 28, was selected to the All-Star Game this month for the first time in his career. He has a sterling slash line of .320/.387/.398 with an excellent contact game, striking out just 13.3% of the time (while walking a strong 10.0% of the time). His batting profile will be an excellent addition to complement the boppers in New York’s powerful lineup.
He also returns to the AL East, after being with the Boston Red Sox from 2016-20. Baseball America and MLB.Com ranked him the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball ahead of the 2017 season.
Benintendi is a free agent after this season, so the Yankees are hoping he can provide a big impact over the remaining three months (the Yankees — 66-33 — have an 11.5 game lead in the AL East).
Here’s a look at how the baseball world is reacting to the trade:
Andrew Benintendi joins the Yankees with a 2.4 bWAR and .788 OPS (124 OPS+) this season. His .321 batting average is 29 points higher than the next highest qualified average on the team
The left fielder was a first-time All-Star in 2022 and a first-time Gold Glover in 2021 pic.twitter.com/57FtUVtqRu
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 28, 2022
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.