So I did a breakdown on Benintendi after he got the record #1 Free Agent contract $75M from Jerry this winter and I just couldn't believe what I saw.
What I saw was how much this guy has deteriorated since his 2017 season in Boston and how his second half fall off in NYY was more indicative of his true form. But he finished with a .303 AVG... and .399 SLG. (which is terrible sorry). So I looked and sure enough that .300+ AVG was held up by an extremely high BABIP for a guy without much power or hard hit rate... It was #7. In the ranks of guys like people who slug .550 and Dansby Swanson.
So then Spring came and he was just awful in 44 AB. And I was like, ok its just spring but it's also what he truly is now. A headcase that lost his ability to hit the ball with authority. Benintendi was a doubles machine with decent power for 2 years in Boston. Today he'll hit .300 if a shooting star passes and he gets to wish for another top 10 MLB BABIP. And with him slugging .399 I'd rather have a 1997 Mike Caruso than Benintendi. This guy hit 3rd the other night, sucked, and went down to 6th again.
He's like the White Sox version of Heyward. Less years, but relative to our budget and the Cubs - someone we overpaid for, Grifol's fault - Hahn's for going with it... I just think it's insane.
This team dropped Jose Abreu and I thought it was his power regression. Adam Duvall was off an injury but only turning 34 and a 1-YR rental and WS year previous when he was healthy. His spring was on fire and the first week of this season its continued. You think we could've done more with the other 67-68 Million and be better off with Duvall? I sure do.
There is no excuse for this kind of free agent decision making and spending. It puts all the strain on the pitching staff and relying on Eloy and others to remain healthy. Well here we go already with Eloy. And he didn't even get hurt playing OF. So don't tell me Benintendi's defense is worth that kind of $ on a team with our budget. This is atrocious.
Hanser Alberto has hit fifth because Benintendi is NOT a good hitter. Hasn't been for years. Eloy's out. We are in trouble because I doubt you can get rid of Benintendi or Jerry will find $60M under his dresser drawer tomorrow to get us some talent via trade that's worth paying.
Benintendi's season's sorted by OBP, if u wanna double check the predictable badness you can look up BABIP and advanced stats from 2022 on fangraphs they're all there:
I also make videos to keep people satirical and not lose their mind being Sox fans. Don't we deal with this every year? This is #PureWhiteSoxBaseball (#PureBridgeport). The idea is if we can at least laugh at what we expect, then we can still enjoy the good times we have.
White Sox Nation Group (FB) "Pure Bridgeport Ep2 Eloy's Injury"
Hope we can laugh this all off and still find a way to win this division.
