White Sox @ Twins; Martin vs Woods-Richardson 6:40 pm CST

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

I think Beni is one case the new stats don't tell the story. He's hitting about .250 now finally and he has blasted close to 20 homers. His arm is worse than ever but that's OK. He plays for the flawed White Sox. I guess his LF defense makes him a below average player overall but man, he has been a productive hitter for the Sox, advanced metrics be darned. Plus remember he's on a losing team. If he was needed by a contender he'd take more pitches, draw more walks, etc. I'm a Beni-liker. He's good IMO.

You don’t even need to use new stats.  A mediocre bat with bad defense just isn’t worth much.

Right now, Sosa is basically the infield version of Benintendi.  Sosa is also going to hit 20 homers but his defense is so bad he’s only at a 0.7 bWAR, just shy of Benintendi’s.  But at least Sosa is still young, can improve, and isn’t overpaid.

Meanwhile, Benintendi was terrible in his first season with the Sox, was a bit better last season due to a hot second half, and is now having his best season in a Sox uniform, which is still mediocre.  Betting on him to continue to improve in his 32 and 33 year old seasons would not be a bet I’d be willing to take.  But we get to find out anyways, all while paying him $31 million over the 2026 and 2026 seasons.

The proof that Benintendi has little value is that no team would trade for him unless the Sox picked up a huge portion of his remaining contract, and I’m not so sure a team would even be interested in him if the Sox did indeed include a bunch of cash.  The Sox would no doubt love to move him if possible, as we have seen rumors in the past that they would be willing to include cash to trade him.  It hasn’t come to fruition, likely because no other team wants him even at a discount.

Edited September 3, 2025Sep 3 by WhiteSox2023