9:45pm: Benintendi will probably miss more than 10 days, manager Ron Roenicke told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and other reporters.
6:56pm: The Red Sox have placed left fielder Andrew Benintendi on the 10-day injured list with a right rib cage strain, per a team announcement. The club recalled right-hander Ryan Weber from its alternate training site in a corresponding move.
Benintendi’s IL placement continues what has been an abysmal start to 2020 for the typically sturdy producer. A former star prospect, the 25-year-old Benintendi combined for a line of .277/.354/.442 (109 wRC+) with 51 home runs, 52 steals and 9.0 fWAR in 2,052 plate appearances. So far this season, though, Benintendi has failed to hit a homer and batted an unsightly .103/.314/.128 (47 wRC+) across 52 PA, owing in part to a 32.4 percent strikeout rate that sits 13-plus percent above his lifetime figure. Benintendi has also seen his hard-contact rate plummet, and while he has never been a major power threat, his paltry .026 ISO represents a sharp decline and ranks third to last among 169 hitters who have racked up at least 50 trips to the plate.
Thanks in part to Benintendi’s drop-off, the Red Sox have opened 2020 at 6-11 – good for last in the AL East. They figure to go with a regular outfield alignment of Kevin Pillar, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Alex Verdugo while Benintendi’s unavailable. Pillar and Verdugo have been fairly productive so far, though Bradley has joined Benintendi in coming out of the gates slowly.
Not sure what happened to this guy. Looked lost against the Jays when I watched him. Hope he turns it around.
Couple of different things. Number one reduction in prep time and resources. They don’t have access to video prep pregame as they did in Seasons past. Plus they can’t get to the park super early anymore. 5 hours before game Max. Some guys are so used to getting to the park early watching video taking batting practice then watching that video and going out there and hitting again.
The second thing with Andrew is he’s gone back to trying to be thin and fast. If you remember last year he gained weight to try to be a more power hitter. That didn’t work so he’s going back to thin and Swift. The change in approach definitely part of his coming out of the gate slow.
What….LOL!
Trout can’t watch video either and it hasn’t affected his game….
Is it possible that he is a good player but not surefire HOF”er that he was being touted as 2 years ago and the pressure is just getting to him to be THAT guy and not himself?
Bruh, noone I know touted him as a Hall of Famer and I’m from Boston, not to argue…he has been terrible all year looks lost
No one*
He was the number 1 overall prospect in all of baseball at one point, I’d say the expectations were up there.
Thank you for comparing Andrew benintendi to Mike Trout. I didn’t know trout was a major video guy. I know JD Martinez is and he’s got the other teammates hooked. Mike Trout rolls off the couch and goes 2-5.
Please rocky… Just because boston fans liked the guy and he was truly good for 2+ years and probably will be for several more and the NYY, about the same time fell in love with that “like a bird” swoop, who pretty much nobody else in the game did and has flamed out all over… Is no reason to pound on Benintendi..
Benny was really big and jacked up last season as poster above noted. I made that post also here and on soxprospects, comparing him to long ago Tiger named nelson simmons, who made that same mistake 35y ago and cost him a career getting all muscled up and losing the bat speed and quickness.
Benintendi didn’t get the ST this year to really work it out. Season is young and i’m willing to give him the chance for such an all round talented (and young) athlete
Benintendi was never the no.1 prospect though he got close. He was no.5 in 2016 and 62 in 2015. After 4 seasons of production that has ranged between an OPS of .770 to .840, he’s shown quite a lot of consistency. It could be that this is representative of his ceiling and floor and everyone should be pretty happy with that.
He was #1 for MLB and Baseball America pre-2017
Benni is NOT the player Trout is. Benni is a nice player with some power, he is what he is. I adore Benni n I’m very worried bout him.
He hasn’t looked good at the plate for a while and I thought he should have been dealt before the pandemic when a team might have offered younger pitching. Now with his arb eligible years, he won’t in my view yield much in return. Fortunately this and last year gives him little leverage in arb.
This is the third year the Sox have tried to make Benny a lead off hitter. He is not capable of being a lead off hitter. He was disappointing in the role the previous times as well. The Red Sox have a history of taking a player who is effective in one role, and trying to place him in a role he can’t succeed.
I believe part of this is to give Andrew some time off to reset. If he was hitting .325 he would still be in the lineup. It’ll be a nice break to get his head straight.
And Castillo when ??????
Exactly what I’ve been saying.
I believe bloom has no interest in trying to win this year and is content in seeking a top 3 draft pick.
As Bloom should be along with the fans.
You’re kidding right?? Big Picture !!
I was thinking about that. Depending on how much they are under the threshold, why wouldn’t they add him to the roster to save some money with prorated pay and see what he can do? It’s not like they are going to be in contention plus it’s the guys final year.
But I assume that has been examined by the front office and there is something preventing it.
Dodgers were due 16m for price, but it became zero against the cbt after his opt out. Castillo was due 13.5m, although cbt takes part of his signing bonus pushing it up slightly, but it remains less than what price was due by a couple million.
There would be room under the cbt. Question is what they do.
I’ve been saying they wait until 09/01 to assess about Rusney but really what does it matter? They’re not getting anything in return for so little time left. If Rusney could only pitch…
Question for others and I hope I’m wrong but at this point does anyone else think with playoffs unlikely, do you think ownership wants the team to continue to lose so they can bring back Cora next season? Roenicke deserves a better mound roster.
They aren’t losing to bring Cora back; they are losing because they have no pitching whatsoever. I do think Cora will be seriously considered as their manager for 2021 but that has nothing to do with Roenicke. He was dealt a garbage hand and has become a sacrificial lamb of sorts for the team. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cora came back and he brought back Roenicke as his bench coach again (if he’d want to do that of course).
I’m just not a Cora fan.
Red Sox fans think they are the only fans that want to win. There is no difference between Red Sox fans and Yankee fans.
Sure there is.
4 WS wins to celebrate this century
Amen !!
What would you do if you were the Res Sox GM. Rebuild, reload or try and build on the current roster you have? So here I shall masterfully demonstrate why I don’t run an MLB franchise, so let’s keep it light, okay? =)
I say reload. Makes no sense to rebuild and ship off everything. You would just be trading highly productive players in their mid to early 20’s for prospects who you would HOPE become highly productive players in their mid to early 20’s.
Build around Bogaerts and Devers. These two would be absolutely as untouchable as players can be. Set a price for players like Benintendi, Rodriguez and Verdugo that’s maybe slightly north of unreasonable to see if any teams are willing to pay it. If nobody bites than it won’t hurt my feelings to build around them as well.
The rest of them are moved out for major league ready or near major league ready players.
I’m sure I don’t know the Red Sox as well as some of their fans so I’m curious to see what some of you would do if you were GM tomorrow. This is a really difficult atmosphere to start a rebuild so I don’t know that it is wise to try now. But then on the other hand, I could see GM’s being a bit tighter than usual on the purse strings so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. One year rentals might be tough for this season though.
I’d start by having Castillo play next game. He a free agent with no likelihood of being signed again. If he is productive in the 2020 environment I get at least a lottery pick or two to plug in a bottom-5 farm system. If he isn’t it cost me mothing. But maybe he could take the leadoff role nobody else is comfortable stepping into.
If nothing turns around and we don’t get a spark in the next two weeks I depart on the following course:
I dangle jbj at the deadline to anyone wanting a bench defensive upgrade. I cover all his salary for a low end prospect. Same reasoning as castillo.
I try to ship out JDM for something interesting. The opt out limits value, but, someone will be interested. With zero rotation there’s no need for a high priced DH. I don’t expect elite return, but at least a mid level prospect. This is more about FA pitching money in the offseason than anything else.
Then I let my pitching coach and special assistants pick any guys falling through the waiver wire they think they can work with and grab them.
I pick up the phone and call Atlanta, see what they’d offer from their near ready prospects for eovaldi. If I can pry some really good quality coming back Id even bundle perez to help fix their problems.
Instead of prospects I’m happy to listen to comp balance draft picks for JDM or anyone else interested in eovaldi/perez.
I’m also dangling moreland and pillar… I like them, but, on their deals in a lost year why not? Same thing though, I’d cover most or all the salary to maximize return.
If the year is a lost cause by late August this season there’s no risk in lost attendance/ticket sales by throwing in the towel. Just line up the best position for 2021 and get anything you can for guys you know you aren’t bringing back.
Plenty of orgs where a #17 prospect in their system is my new #6 just because of what was there.
What is it that you people don’t get ? You play Castillo and THAT SALARY COMES INTO PLAY and you have less cap room at the trading deadline. Perhaps you can take on another salary WITH A YOUNG GUY or two coming back from a team trying to dump $$?
You do not want to bring up Rusney Castillo. I don’t understand why so many people are suggesting that. You do so and your hands are tied. Nobody wants him back in a trade either LOL AND you’re not going to see anything by playing him and re-sign him LOL.
You really dont think a contender would trade a lottery pick for a free castillo as depth at the deadline? And if he comes up and produces, you don’t think he becomes more desirable?
You really think an everyday OF of pillar, jbj, and verdugo will spark the offense to give a shot at turning things around?
Nobody is going to package young cheap controllable talent to dump 30 days worth of prorated salary. That’s all there is at the deadline.
After finally clearing a little room on the books, bloom is never going to take on a multi-year bloated contract at the deadline just to get one or two young guys. Doing so leaves no room to fix all the holes in the club this offseason.
2020 is unique in that the cash Boston pays Price is off the books from the opt out. In 2021 that money is back. So you CAN’T take on multi-year underwater contracts without doing damage to club long term finances, room you don’t have. But you CAN use that freed up space on an expiring deal. Enter castillo.
The farm is bare. This team doesn’t have the pitching depth for Bloom to go all in trading what little there is in a playoff push, and, team performance almost 1/3 of the way through doesn’t warrant doing so anyways.
That’s what you don’t seem to get Gary.
Castillo won’t get you a premium prospect. But with Boston paying his full salary, he has SOME value. Might as well try to cash in on expiring assets. You’re paying him anyways, it’s just a question whether he counts on the CBT… which there’s plenty of room they won’t use anyways.
This is what you don’t get. They’re not paying his salary right now. Why would you suddenly want to have your hands tied paying Castillo salary ? It restricts your flexibility at the deadline. You’re already trying to dump Jackie Bradley jr. and pay his salary… and trying to trade away JD Martinez’ salary. How you going to pay Castillo salary while trying to get something back for him?
Here’s the bottom line. The word on the street is that Rusney Castillo can’t play. He’s not suddenly becoming a major league player because he has two months left on his contract LOL.
Where do you get that “word on the street”???
Castillo was trapped in aaa because of his contract… not poor performance.
Castillo won his second straight PawSox MVP award last august. In the four seasons since his last demotion, he has batted .294 and slugged .429.
His manager has advocated for him with development staff and pleaded to give him a shot… it was CBT and penalties that trapped him, not inability to perform.
LOL those are AAA numbers at 30-33 years old. We’re supposed to congratulate him for figuring out AAA pitching after 7 years? Please.
Actually, that was his 4 year average covering 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 milb seasons after he was sent down during 2016. So it’s not having just figured it out at age 31.
Im not saying to expect him to be an MVP candidate. But I am saying he’s likely better than what’s out there right now, and, he could be viewed as a depth piece worth at least a lottery pick type player in exchange.
So on one hand we have that 3 pronged potential – he might help the team, he might grab a lottery pick type player, or he might show more value and grab a team’s 20-25 ranked prospect.
Let’s hear from you exactly who you think (off of the teams clearly out of contention in 2020) will be available, and would be a use of the David price cap space, that wont cost money in 2021 and beyond, and what you give up in trade to acquire it?
If you don’t make use of the one year cap space in 2020 you got from Price to maximize assets you lose it. No point saving it by not taking a risk
AtlSoxFan… you make great points on Rusney Castillo. I would even say you’re right. But I’m sticking to my guns on this one and I won’t say you’re right publicly. This is between you and me. So I’m not giving in. It would be total bonehead move to call up Castillo. 🙂
where did you get that they are not paying him? They are absolutely paying him, he just doesnt count towards the luxury tax. They still pay every dime of his contract, With money that came off the books, its not only a good move to play Castillo since, you can now fit the money in, but it looks good to potential free agents when you treat players right, Castillo deserves to play this year and since there is a no harm no foul, you do it. They are not taking back any bad contracts, lets be honest and what they have to trade isnt going to get them much.
I didn’t word it right. Sorry. They’re absolutely paying him it just doesn’t count against the payroll. Just as you’re saying. Thank you.
I think you’re wrong on all counts jaash5. We already know he’s a Triple-A Talent. He’s been there seven years and finally figured it out. Why bring him up and tie up several million dollars of payroll? You tie your hands a little bit at the trading deadline for no good reason. It would be foolish to bring him up.
You say he deserves to play? Based on what? And there’s plenty of harm and plenty of foul to the payroll and to the deadlines flexibility. I am so done trying to explain this essential element of building a baseball team and roster. You guys think Castillo is still 25 years old and deserves a call-up.
And for those of you who say it’s not fair to him as a ball player holding him back from the Major Leagues? Then if he was that confident, he should have bailed out after year 4 or year 5 (he sacked away plenty of cash by that point) and given up the money in exchange for going to a new team and playing on their major league roster.
If Castillo had the confidence in himself he could have done what Brian Johnson just did. “I’m not getting a chance I’m out of here. And if I’m good enough I’ll make the money somewhere else.” But of course he knows what you and I know. He’s a AAA talent.
Brian Johnson made 575000. Rusney Castillo makes 13,500,000.
Would you walk from a 13.5m payday in the offseason, or, exercise your option to follow the money?
Put another way, Castillo wasn’t likely to get 13.5m having not gotten any chance to play above AAA, even though he showed well there.
Not comparable.
I’m only saying that to those who say he was blocked from a chance at the Major Leagues. The ball was in his court he could have quit and moved somewhere else. So I don’t want to hear it that he was blocked from the major leagues and it’s not fair.
Sure it can be the same. After 4 or 5 years Castillo has tens of millions in earnings to that point so he could sign off on the last two or three years if he thinks he’s so great. But actually it’s the fans who say he’s blocked, he’s probably happy LOL
An Bradley jr can’t hit in this league ,and has a 234 career average and Castillo at 312 AB batting in the same league for 262
I consider it has been an injustice and from the aptitude of the club it is evident that it is not because of contract
An Bradley jr can’t hit in this league ,and has a 234 career average and Castillo at 312 AB batting in the same league for 262
I consider it has been an injustice and from the aptitude of the club it is evident that it is not because of contract.
Based on what ??????!!!!!!!,Bradley jr can’t hit in this league ,234 ave in his career
Castillo in the same league at 312 AB at Least batting 262 my friend
They are paying Castillo now, he just doesn’t count against their CBT number. I don’t want the Sox to add that salary to their CBT either, Gary. I’d much rather see them bring up Duran or Chatham to see if they can do anything in the majors. I’d bring up Jeter Downs too well before someone like Castillo. Downs could play LF in a pinch for them.
AtlSoxFan I totally agree with the rest of your post except for the word dangling. I would actually DO the trades with these guys you mentioned. No use keeping them when you can get stuff back. Plus we can pay all of jbj salary in trade because we still be under the cap. Good call.
Verdugo is staying here long term with Xander and Devers
I agree with you salary-cap myth. You keep the Young Building Blocks which are hard to find as it is, and you trade away at the deadline any pending free agent or mid-thirties guy (JDM.) Plus you trade the entire bullpen for whatever you can get in Draft Picks and Prospects. But you keep Devers and Bogart’s Etc.
Changing the starting nine around two players IS a re-build.
Vasquez, Bogaerts, Devers, Verdugo are keepers. Need to fill 1st Moreland back one more year? 2nd ?? Left and center Pillar type and one masher. Rebuild? Sure. Reload? No?
Vazquez and Verdugo are not going anywhere either
It’ll be fascinating how owner John Henry deals with this debacle. It’s more than the fact they’re losing; they’re looking incredibly ugly doing it. Right now, more New Englanders are watching CSPAN reruns of Ross Perot’s campaign speeches than NESN. And Henry won’t be happy.It’s been a great year for soybeans and equities (Henry’s source of wealth), but I’ve seen estimates that he’ll lose more than 100M on the Sox this year. And that’s a REAL 100 M not those cute tax games MLB owners are wont to do. John Henry doesn’t like to lose real money.
He won’t blow it up…that won’t work in Boston. But he’ll definitly roll some heads and ask himself if Bloom kows enough to stay competitive during a refit. Henry’s going to look for someone to blame, and if, say, a Cashman becomes available……
The Red Sox will do exactly what salarycapmyth and ATLSoxFan say above. Keep the building block young guys. Trade off the rest for picks and young players and Prospects. Done deal.
This winter there’s work to be done. Get a couple young guys up who are ready to contribute and plug holes with free agents. Now that the tax has been reset the Red Sox are not a repeat offender. They can sign three big names like they’ve done in the past. Two starting pitchers and a handful of position players. As far as the bullpen.. just have to do what every team does every year…, scramble and draft right.
I think bloom/Boston will be a bit more restrained in the offseason. There will be more reliance on bargain bin diving than you’d like.
Here’s an older mlb.com excerpt of this offseason’s notable free agents:
for 2020-21
Catcher: J.T. Realmuto, Mike Zunino, Yadier Molina
First base: Yuli Gurriel
Second base: Cesar Hernandez, DJ LeMahieu, Jurickson Profar, Daniel Murphy (mutual option)
Third base: Justin Turner, Zack Cozart, Jake Lamb, Marwin Gonzalez
Shortstop: Marcus Semien, Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Villar
Outfield: George Springer, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Brantley, Joc Pederson, Jackie Bradley Jr., Jay Bruce, Giancarlo Stanton (opt-out)
Designated hitter: Nelson Cruz
Starting pitchers: Corey Kluber (club option), Trevor Bauer, Robbie Ray, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, Jake Arrieta (club option), Marcus Stroman, Jose Quintana
Relievers: Blake Treinen, Alex Colome, Andrew Miller (vesting option)
Looking at that list, I honestly don’t see a couple guys WORTH breaking the bank for. I think you may see attempted trade(s) to get something in the rotation, especially if you move eovaldi/Perez in a good deal with say atlanta. MAYBE you sign one of these guys as a reclamation project on a 1 year deal, or one of the other guys who aren’t included but will be available.
But there isn’t any healthy elite SP worth big money to chase here…
So it looks like more of the same next year?
Pretty close. It all comes down to many rolls of the dice with pitching.
Maybe Sale comes back in old form. Maybe E-Rod puts it together and doesn’t have lasting effects. Maybe darwinzon is ready, and maybe Mata steps up.
I see bloom taking a couple Perez type moves, and the rest depends who is in town. If they DON’T trade eovaldi/perez, your rotation is HOPEFULLY:
Sale, Erod, eovaldi, then a mix of mata/darwinzon/perez and maybe sign a 1yr make-good deal for depth.
A real wildcard is if Lester’s option vests and the cubbies take the 10m buyout instead of paying the 25m. Would bloom/Henry decide to bring him back for 1-2 years to finish his career in boston? Maybe.
Springer they should go after. Maybe Bauer from your list.
Robbie Ray is a pretty underrated pitcher. I know he’s not fantastic but he gets a lot of strikeouts.
I bet pillar is going to have a good “year”. As a jays fan it pained me to see him flirt with a 300 avg the first half every year to fail off after all-star break. Im sure someone will say batting avg isn’t all that matters but pair that with 20 HR 15sb amazing defense and what more could u ask for
Pillar hitting 8-hole or 9-hole playing strong defense is exactly what good teams can ask for. I hope he hits well in Boston and is traded at the deadline to a contender. He played a key role in Toronto’s two year run.
This guy is terribly overrated. He’s good on defense but can’t hit. He never could hit that well and we keep waiting on a season where he will break out. Hasn’t happened yet.