Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi has reportedly been a target of both the Blue Jays and Yankees in the early stages of the summer trade market, but yesterday’s placement on the restricted list in advance of Kansas City’s trip to Toronto, due to vaccination status, is already having impact on his market. It seemed obvious at the time of that revelation that the Jays would be out of the mix for Benintendi, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post now reports that the Yankees are also unlikely to further pursue the outfielder. Presumably, the same is true of Benintendi’s teammate Michael A. Taylor, who joined him on the restricted list and has also reportedly been considered by the Yankees.
The Yankees are one of two teams (joining the Astros) who have taken a full roster on the road to Toronto this season. They still have three games in Toronto on the schedule in late September, and Blue Jays, currently in possession of the American League’s third Wild Card spot, represent a potential postseason opponent. Certainly, not all contending clubs are going to be dissuaded from pursuing unvaccinated players, but it’s also doubtful the Yankees and Jays will be the only ones taking this stance.
Outfield help is known to be a priority for a Yankees club that watched Aaron Hicks and, to a far greater extent, Joey Gallo struggle for much of the season. Hicks has righted the ship of late, hitting at a very strong .268/.376/.449 batting line over his past 149 trips to the plate, dating back to late May. He’s also gone 4-for-5 in stolen bases during that time, swatted five homers, and added four doubles and a couple triples. (Hicks was helped off the field during last night’s game after fouling a ball into his shin, but thankfully for both him and the team, imaging did not reveal a fracture.)
It’s been another story for Gallo, whom the Yankees would surely like to move over the next 19 days between now and the Aug. 2 trade deadline. Gallo’s .166/.287/.336 batting line is miles away from the .214/.340/.507 slash he posted with the Rangers from 2017 through July 27 of last year, when he was traded to the Bronx. The Yankees surely didn’t expect Gallo to begin hitting for a high average. However, a 50-point drop in his already perennially low mark, combined with an uptick in strikeout rate and decrease in walk rate and power output, has rendered Gallo one of the least-valuable hitters in baseball at the moment. For a 28-year-old hitter still in his prime, it’s a fairly remarkable decline.
Turning the focus back to Benintendi, Heyman further tweets that the Mets, who don’t have a Toronto series on their schedule and would thus only need to worry about a potential World Series matchup there, do have some interest in Benintendi. The Mets have cast a wide net in seeking upgrades, however, and Benintendi is surely just one of many players on their radar as they seek to bolster the roster.
Interest in Benintendi, Taylor and other players who are unable to travel to Toronto will vary from team to team. For the Yankees, it seems a clear and understandable roadblock. Other clubs will feel differently. There’s no denying the adverse effect it has on the Royals, however, due both to the fact that they’ll be without nearly 40% of their big league roster this weekend and to the fact that president of baseball operations Dayton Moore will have fewer interested parties to engage on the trade market.
Maybe he’d get vax’d as part of a trade to the Yankees or Jays. It appears Judge changed his position once he realized it would the team. Benentendi might do similar to play for a winning team. Not all anti-vax people are as hardline as others.
Pretty sure any players not vaxxed at this point aren’t gonna get vaxxed.
I haven’t read all of the 152 comments that have been posted as of now. I saw the s**t storm yesterday, so I’m not going to try to fan the embers. I’m sure others have seen the interview with Whit Merrifield yesterday when he said that if he was on a contending team headed for the postseason, he’d consider getting the vaccine. That doesn’t sound like some deep ethical conviction, or the result of “doing his own research”, like the popular line spoken by “brilliant” anti-vaxxers. Dozier said he wasn’t worried about contracting covid-19, and Benintendi didn’t want to discuss his reasons for not wanting the vaccine.
Seems like a pretty stupid risk that could potentially void your contract. Nobody is making them get the shot, apparently they can all go be on the Royals.
sports.yahoo.com/jarren-duran-decides-vaccinated-a…
Its all about the money. 6-7% of $20MM is the reason Judge got the shot. Everyone is all about their personal beliefs until money is on the line. In Judge’s case, about $1.2M.
Cynicism usually is a close relative of pragmatism, so I think you’re onto something. Being on a winning team is also probably a consideration. Everyone knows Benitendi isn’t reallyyy hurting the Royals with his choice.
But like you said, for Judge maybe it was the games checks or maybe even the chance to crank 4 dingers during those 9 games in Canada- making his final stat line just gaudy enough to get one dumb team to give a decade dragging mega contract to a 30 year old.
So baseball can’t have a Kyrie Irving type player who did walk away from $17 or $18 million last year and stuck to his guns, the team caved. There are people dug in enough to say they don’t give a damn about that money. In Kyrie’s case he knows he’s getting a max deal if not this off-season the next one so he’d wait you out. Benni needs to come back home to Boston.
Not always, sometimes the stupidity wins out. The A’s have a 28 year old aging prospect that was finally going to get a shot at sticking on a MLB roster as Murphy’s back up… they had to drop him for a Jays series, his replacement did well, and he hasn’t been back up to the majors since. For players like Rizzo or Benintendi it just means they’ll be less of a millionaire, but this was a prospect potentially throwing away his career because a bunch of people on youtube told him they were good at science.
I don’t know the details, so who was he? I completely understand not getting the shot if you think there are long-term consequences. But money also has long-term consequences. I haven’t always liked what I’ve had to do at work, but sometimes you have to do things you’d rather not do.
Austin Allen. We had a couple others guys out (Puk, Snead) but they’ve performed well enough that they weren’t really jeopardizing their careers.
These guys have been bombarded with credible facts in regard to the vaccine. They still have the J&J vaccine available (which is like a flu shot), they have harmed themselves financially and their teams; and possibly now future trades to contenders.
To top that off they would think nothing of doing PEDs if it were legal in MLB. They choose to believe quacks and right-wing media. It’s a 100% political decision at this point..
Andrew Benintendi should just go get vaxed so he could play for a contender
Maybe he don’t care cause he won a ring early?
Agree Captain. It will be interesting to see if he changes his mind.
He probably will
This is about to hit him where it hurts
His wallet.
Yes, I agree that he has the right to choose, but so do the Yankees and the Canadian government. Benintendi is having a great season, and interest in him is at it’s zenith. If he wants to be play for a contender, he can read the handwriting on the wall.
At least his agent can.
Doesn’t he still get paid regardless of “restriction”.?
No pay if you don’t play due to your ‘personal choice’. That is the rule this year. You also don’t get service time for those days which could cost someone a year towards free agency or arbitration – mega bucks lost then.
As a Jays fan I was hoping they’d get Benintendi but now obviously they won’t. I suspect the Jays have had their hands tied a LOT due to the COVID rules, yet fools keep saying they have a massive advantage due to them. Yeah, it helps vs a last place team that now is a AAA team pretty much but the teams that matter like the Yankees pressure their players behind the scenes to get the shot. Sure there are exceptions (Red Sox) but generally a contender has players who want to win thus will get the shot..
Sorry – the Jays had to put up with the idiotic play in Buffalo for 2 years due to the hard border settings between our countries (first set up by Herr Trump). Here in Canada the vast majority have 2 shots with 50% having their 3rd shot. Like many vaccines this one wears down over time thus a new shot every 6 months makes sense it seems.
Btw, only a far right wing fool would call Trudeau a dictator. I’m not a fan of his but compared to the Conservatives he is great. Also our system has him in a minority government which means he needs some other party to agree to everything to get anything passed. Thus he is as far from a dictator as possible.
He still gets paid. The likelihood of Benintendi signing with a contender diminishes if other teams require that he be vaccinated, in order to play for them, which is their right. It is unlikely that he will be traded this season, but he will declare free agency the day after the World Series. Benintendi has said that he wants another ring. In order to make that happen,he may have to make some consenssions. He’s not likely to get a ring with the Royals. At the rate that the Royals are going, he’ll be an old man when they win again.
Nope – he doesn’t get paid as per MLB – cbssports.com/mlb/news/unvaccinated-mlb-players-wo… or for a MLB link – mlb.com/news/royals-roster-changes-for-toronto-ser… says these 10 won’t be paid or get service time for these 4 games.
But, you probably think that trump was the greatest, and he doesn’t lie every time he speaks
OK Cooperdooper clearly you are one of the fools who love Trump the traitor and watch and believe Fox. Enjoy your Red Sox losing due to the cowards who are scared of a vaccine that billions have taken.
I stand corrected. Thank you. Even if he doesn’t get paid for the four games, he’ll still be able to pay his bills. Unlike the rest of us.
No.
Yet you elected someone that lies more and is is officially the worst president in history.
Loser
Not surprised at the Yankees interest diminishing. Peralta and even Ben Gamel become stronger possibilities. Just don’t see them ponying up for Reynolds. With the injury sustained last night to Hicks and the Yankees reluctance to play Judge too much in center, the Yankees are probably going to be forced to call up Florial. This may give them the chance to size up their interest in retaining him on the roster as opposed to trading for another outfielder.
Ian Happ, come on down!
would you be interested in a lightly used yadiel hernandez
There will be a good market for Benintendi but you wonder whether it will impact his free agency. by taking out AL East teams (albeit it for a couple of fewer games with the new schedule). It’s a business, and he’s smart enough to realize there’s a potential cost.
When the national baseball media can push a smidgen of a story that in any way can be tied to the Yankees or Red Sox, they think fans around the country are breathless with anticipation awaiting developments.
Yankee and Red Sox fans get the clicks for the Internet sites. Most of us go about our business following interesting teams.
I find this interesting as a front in the vaccine culture war, not as a Yankees/Sox story
Samuel: Blah, blah, blah. You’re muted. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Samuel, I don’t want to alarm you with this information, but no one forced you to read the article. This is aimed to help, I really do not want you to spiral out of control with this alternative way of thinking. Godspeed
And yet you read it and took the time to post.
And if you have no interest in the team with the best record in baseball we won’t miss you not contributing.
Samuel is infatuated with the Yankees. I’ve never seen a Royals fan so obsessed with the Yankees. It’s just weird at this point.
@Samuel
You may not have seen this, but you do have the option on every story to bypass clicking on the “View Comments” button. Simply remove the stick from your bhole and press on without clicking this button.
Hope this helps!!!
No offense to the Blue Jays, but the Yankees making trade decisions based on the off chance they meet a fringe playoff team in the Division serious seems dumb. If Cashman really thinks he can’t win a game in Toronto without Andrew Benintendi then the Yankees probably aren’t actual contenders anyway.
This is a horrible take; should they maximize their chances of winning every game or not?
You seem to think not.
At most they’d play what, 2 playoff games in Toronto? That’s if the downward spiraling Jays make the playoffs and win the Wild Card Series. The Yankees currently have a 15.5 game lead on the Jays in mid July. Why are they worrying about them at all?
ANY team that makes the playoffs is a threat and any team that thinks otherwise deserves to lose.
And just 2 games? You mean a minimum of 40% of the games? Yeah I think that’s pretty relevant.
That’s two games unless they can get past the mighty Astros! we all know the Astros are the biggest threat in the American league.
You’re trying to be humorous, right?
Yankees worried about the Blue Jays when it’s the Rays who are gonna knock em out.
Kansas City fans, have gotta be happy !
Why? Whit’s value was low this season even with that contract, now he’s injured and now has the Scarlet Letter. Many of those other 9 being outted have trade value, including Keller/Benintendi. KC lives and dies by shopping at the trade deadline like it’s a Dollar Tree during Christmas season. Not sure why any KC fan would welcome seeing them walk into free agency without getting anything in return, knowing KC most likely won’t take a chance and make them a QO.
Why? Benintendi will declare free agency at the end of the season and leave for a better team, which is almost anywhere else. He wants to play for a winner again. KC is no where close.
If those teams won’t trade for him now, what makes you think they will sign him as a Free Agent?
If I’m the Royals I’m opening discussion with his Reps for a team friendly extension.
The reports that the Yankees and Jays are no longer interested in him did not come out until the Royals put him on the restricted list. His agent hasn’t had time to react. Since the All Star break happens right after the Jays-Royals series.they have the time to come up with a game plan. think that Benintendi’s desire to win is stronger than his refusal to get vaccinated. Ballplayers have a short shelf life. I think that once his rep talks to him, he’ll go for the money and get the vaccine, if that’s what it takes to play for a winner.
Natiinal League teams, such as the Braves and Phillies have more than a moderate interest in Bennitiendi. The Royals can trade him and still get a good return.
Kcmark – why should a team give away prospects for Benintendi when they can sign him in the off season and KEEP THEIR PROSPECTS. Does that answer your question dah.
If the Royals don’t trade him, they get nothing but a hole in left field. I think that’s why they’re trying to trade him. The desire for a trade is on the Royals side. You’re right. The others just have to wait it out. I suspect that he doesn’t want to play for a last place team and wouldn’t mind a return to the playoffs.A team trying to make the playoffs and think that he’ll give them what they need, will probably give up prospects.
He’s going somewhere. That won’t stop it. It may cause them to get less for him. No cause for celebration or condemnation. It’s his choice. I still don’t buy that they aren’t interested though.
Dude, I’m the first guy to complain about Yankee/Red Sox obsession, but as a Royals fan, this was my first thought when I saw both Beni and Michael A Taylor on this list. Both Yanks and Blue Jays had been linked to both of them. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more upset with a Royals player. And for Whit, who used to be one of my favorite players, to make the comments he did after hitting a whopping .141/.191/.180 in March/April. That’s a jerk move when you’re playing well, but when you were one of the worst players on the team, come on!
At least all the mouth breathing “free thinkers” have a new hero
I am confused because I read that the Yankees fly in to Buffalo and then take a bus into Toronto thus avoiding having the players have the shot. If I recall Judge does not have the shot but he plays in Toronto. So I’m not sure why Kansas City didn’t fly into Buffalo and then take a bus to Toronto.
The Yankees all got vaccinated.
Every team does that including Toronto. I don’t exactly remember why, but it does not bypass the vaccination requirement.
If you fly into Canada you have to take a Covid test. If you drive in, you do not. Teams do it to keep the potential positive tests as low as possible in case someone may be asymptomatic.
I read it as you have to have a vaccine to enter Canada, no matter which way you go in. I’m pretty sure you can’t just have a negative test or we wouldn’t be having this problem.
After “13 seconds” last January no flights from KC are allowed into Buffalo.
These are the rules:
travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/exem…
I thought the rangers also didn’t place anyone in the restricted list?
Foolish reason not to get him, and I’m vaxed and once boosted. Not an anti vaxer. Maybe just chatter. I hope they don’t get him. I always liked Benny.
Maybe this is their way of ensuring they don’t end up traded to the AL east. Like a poor man’s limited NTC
It isn’t about the regular season, it is about the playoffs. So any team in the AL should be hesitant. Don’t think they have the team to make it to the World Series, so NL teams are good.
Without the vaccine you just take your chances with catching Covid which is so much worse. You have to be dense to think the effects of Covid are less than the effects of the Covid vaccine.
The Rangers also played in Toronto with a completely vaxxed roster.
Good catch. The Rangers took a full roster to Toronto to start the season.
Dr. Fauci took all the boosters and has an amazing arm. Maybe he can fill in for a pitcher on the restricted list? Obama threw well too. Not as good as Fauci but close. They can definitely anchor the back end of any rotation.
In all seriousness Fauci threw a worse pitch than Dee Gordon. obama’s was absolutely terrible as well. Ryan Zimmerman’s back was the never the same after he had to stretch awkwardly to salvage that throw from obama.
50 cent says you know nothing of terrible first pitches.
Oooooooooo. This one hurts the most. Obama wasn’t surprising but still disappointing. Fauci’s was bad and the empty stadium made it worse but kinda par for the course with him. 50? Disgraceful. Naturally for my Mets, too.
Nintendo fits perfect on the Mets. But how many games do the Yankees even have in Toronto rest of season? Is it really that impactful?
Getting back around to baseball, Gallo to the Pads for as little as possible. Enough to keep salary in line.
Got a sinking feeling he’ll remain on the roster until the postseason rosters are announced. Same could be true with Chapman, though less likely.
Good. Don’t want him. Yankees are better served to call up Florial to be the regular CF. And spare me the tunnel vision about his Ks. It hasn’t been bad lately and he’s performed well in every other area in SWB. Knowing Hal and Cash, the real reason he’s not up is service time.
Benny is their best option. Frugal Hal has an excuse now if he needs one.
This probably means that they can probably trade him to the Brewers or the Padres, both teams that I would get behind in the playoffs (I will never cheer for the Yankees ever and no I did not grow up seeing the Royals lose in the 70s I just am knowledgeable about what happened because of fan groups I am in). The Padres have a very good farm system And the royals FO struck gold when they got Dylan Coleman as a player to be named later in a trade. Perhaps they can trade Benintendi to the NL West or NL central And strike gold again.
This helps Arizona if they want to trade David Peralta to NY now
What can we do for a juan soto?
Hosmer and a 11-20 prospect to the Nats for Bell,
Extremely hilarious, and would get rejected instantly.
Looks like MLB ranks SD’s top prospect at number 23. So just outside 11-20. Seems like a bit of an overpay just to dump Hosmer and rent Bell.
For Hosmer plus SD’s 11th-20th best prospect, the Nats offer a Josh Bell autographed baseball.
Omaha Storm Chasers Manager to 10 Players:
“Gentlemen, I have some great news and some terrible news”.
The Great News: “Gentlemen, the great news is YOU’RE BEING CALLED UP TO THE SHOW”.
The Terrible News: “Unless your family members have active passports, are vaccinated and boosted…. they won’t be making the trip to see your debut”.
IMO, this is just Cashman trying to drive down the cost. They have 74 games left, and Benni will miss 4% of them.
Lol. Don’t quit your day job. Your math is horrendous.
The Yankees have three remaining games left on their schedule at Toronto ( 74 remaining games). That is 4%!! Someone can’t compute the math here!!
As if it wasn’t common knowledge among the front offices as to who has or hasn’t been vaccinated. The Yankees already knew. This is either the Yankees driving down the market or the media adding even more hyperbole to an already over-done story.
Good point.
I seriously doubt that if the Yankees felt he was the best available option that his vaccination status would be the deciding factor. They’re not playing in Toronto every other day. This is more Jon Heyman grandstanding nonsense.
Covid vaccines good or bad mean nothing, you guys are arguing about the facts, the facts are canada and US will not let you cross the border if you’re not vaccinated. If your not vaccinated live with it, get used to it and pay the consequences
I’d rather have Benintendi over Tyler Wade if I was the Yankees.
Who Are Some Other Outfielders That You Would Want To Pursue At The Trade Deadline?
Take one for the team! Literally.
It would be a Real shot in the arm for all of us.
Love it!!
What’s Mexico’s vax policy if Benny gets traded to San Diego?
Yankees are getting rid of Gallo for sure that’s they just got Tyler but not trading anyone. They are simply going to use Andujar for the rest of the season. He’s in a good shape. It’ll work out great.
Juan soto? Gallo dominuez Sweeny and Clark Schmidt. And a extension for Soto and judge oh no im dreaming again.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about a Toronto WS matchup right now. But the Mets need more power than Benintendi brings. He’s really just a slightly better Cahna right now. The Mets should be targeting better upgrades than that in my opinion.
The Yankees should pursue a better broadcasting team. Perhaps the worst in baseball
They have several. Which are speaking of, particularly?
I purposely didn’t specify, because they’re pretty much all sub par.
If you’ve heard all of them, you must follow a lot of Yankee games.
Paul O’Neill is excellent, as is David Cone, and Ryan Ruocco is good at both baseball and NBA play-by-play. Carlos Beltran shouldn’t have been hired, IMO. Cameron Maybin is a nice guy but a poor announcer. Michael Kay can be funny, but if you’re not a Yankee fan, you probably hate him because — reasons.
What team do you root for?
O’Neill sux and will always suck until the day he retires from…
O’Neill knows more about baseball than you ever will, SCarton12, and he brings that knowledge to his commentary. His appraisals of pitchers and hitters is insightful and spot-on. It’s probably a good thing that you didn’t bother to finish your erroneous statement.
So, Lyman, you made a scattershot attack on the broadcast crew without naming any of them, and then you ran away without revealing which team you root for. It’s almost as if you really don’t know much about the Yankee broadcasters and you’re embarrassed to name the team you root for.
I note that Jon Heyman gives no supporting evidence in his tweet when he claims that Benintendi’s vaccination status means the Yankees are unlikely to trade for him. Not that I care all that much; I’d prefer they acquired Ian Happ. But I can’t take this rumor all that seriously with no corroboration.
Make damn SURE to get vaccinated against a virus with a 99.8% recovery rate! MLB should strip Toronto from owning a team. Move them to Oklahoma, a state that would never partake in such utter nonsense. My God, how utterly ridiculous.