Benintendi destinations?

[Fielder Jones]

Probably a topic many of you will laugh off or not even click into. But it's possible he could go somewhere if we take back a similarly bloated contract. He's owed money for two more years but the second year is slightly lighter. I wonder also if we would still have some spending room for this coming year, and we could use it on this kind of trade, take back more money than we're giving out, and thus take back some goodies from the other team to make it worthwhile. We've shown we'll take your posthype/blocked prospects. Cardinals and Red Sox have helpful hitters they could be trying to get rid of. Yoshida for one could be someone who is a Mune buddy. Arizona Eduardo Rodriguez is a similar bad contract. To do these i think to be attractive in this kind of thing we financially have to give a little extra, but we are behaving a little differently than years' past so ..who knows.

What destinations have (1) a bad contract to give us back, but also (2) -- and this is tougher to find -- actually have a need for anything Beni provides? LH/mostly DH?

[Fielder Jones]

Could also do it the other way where another team takes money but we load it up with sweeteners going the other way. Like if Boston loves Sosa, for instance. Or if someone likes Ramos or something else i'm not seeing.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

Korea

[Lukakke Appling]

I can’t really envision a scenario this off-season where he gets traded, but if he can be an average hitter or better in the first half I can see a desperate team trading for him. 

[Chicago White Sox]

Phillies might consider dealing Castellanos for him, but that would only save us $12M overall in the long-run.

[southsider2k5]

His destination is LF for the Sox.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

24 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Phillies might consider dealing Castellanos for him, but that would only save us $12M overall in the long-run.

Benintendi for Taijuan Walker would be great, but not sure the Phillies would do that.

[WhiteSox2023]

20 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

His destination is LF for the Sox.

Beat me to it.

[Timmy U]

32 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

His destination is LF for the Sox.

If he could play a decent LF, he might have some value. Sadly, he’s their platoon DH

[Bob Sacamano]

When I saw the headline, I immediately thought there was a rumor he was moving. Damn it.

[chitownsportsfan]

1 hour ago, Timmy U said:

If he could play a decent LF, he might have some value. Sadly, he’s their platoon DH

It's remarkable how bad he is in a small LF at G-Rate. He is mildly useful as a bat, but his terrible LF defense means he's a 1 WAR player at this point.

[nrockway]

Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Key Largo, Montego. Just a few thoughts.

[JoshPR]

4 minutes ago, nrockway said:

Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Key Largo, Montego. Just a few thoughts.

He can play LF for the Kokomo Bay Stars

[southsider2k5]

At the end of the day he is owed 2/30.  Release him like a real big boy organization and move on.

[joejoesox]

46 minutes ago, JoshPR said:

He can play LF for the Kokomo Bay Stars

You mean the Kokomo Creek Chubs?

[Quin]

[WestEddy]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

At the end of the day he is owed 2/30.  Release him like a real big boy organization and move on.

Why are we releasing him? He put up positive production this last season, and he's relatively cheap. 

[thxfrthmmrs]

Not that the Dodgers need any help financially, but Benintendi for Treinen or Tanner Scott would make sense here.

[chitownsportsfan]

12 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Why are we releasing him? He put up positive production this last season, and he's relatively cheap. 

he had .2 fWAR and a wRC+ of 103. He's like a 1 WAR player at best at this point with no future here. I'd rather give 100% of his PA to someone like Brooks. He's also a butcher but he's also got some pop and is 25 with some development left.

[Ducksnort]

2 hours ago, Bob Sacamano said:

When I saw the headline, I immediately thought there was a rumor he was moving. Damn it.

I thought it was about Benetti for like 10 seconds 😂

Edited 9 hours ago by Ducksnort

[southsider2k5]

38 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Why are we releasing him? He put up positive production this last season, and he's relatively cheap. 

This is the first time I can recall making a case for Benny, post signing.

[zisk]

I'm sorry he hasn't worked out. Truth be told, he could've played like Babe Ruth and we wouldn't

have been .500 the last three years.

[southsider2k5]

6 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

he had .2 fWAR and a wRC+ of 103. He's like a 1 WAR player at best at this point with no future here. I'd rather give 100% of his PA to someone like Brooks. He's also a butcher but he's also got some pop and is 25 with some development left.

I went back and looked it up. -0.2 fWAR in 3 seasons for basically $43 million, including that 0.2 last season, even while playing about 400 games in those 3 seasons.

$43 million for a below replacement player.

Sounds like a great justification for walking papers to me.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

22 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I went back and looked it up. -0.2 fWAR in 3 seasons for basically $43 million, including that 0.2 last season, even while playing about 400 games in those 3 seasons.

$43 million for a below replacement player.

Sounds like a great justification for walking papers to me.

I hate defending Benintendi, but 2025 was his “best” season with the Sox and it’s not like they have many outfield options (I know he’s terrible in LF, but still).

I’d give him one last chance in 2026. If he still sucks next season, cut him before the final year of his contract.

[SoCalChiSox]

36 minutes ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

I hate defending Benintendi, but 2025 was his “best” season with the Sox and it’s not like they have many outfield options (I know he’s terrible in LF, but still).

I’d give him one last chance in 2026. If he still sucks next season, cut him before the final year of his contract.

JR isn't going to eat all the money for nothing. 

If you're gonna throw away a quarter anyway, might as well put it in a slot machine.

It's one thing to trade him away for like half the salary because you are still saving 7.5m that way, but they aren't cutting him for nothing.