Yankees trade for Andrew Benintendi: Checking in on the reactions to the trade

The Yankees made a big move in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Mets, acquiring outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Royals. In doing so, they sent pitching prospects Chandler Champlain, T.J. Sikkema, and Beck Way to Kansas City. The Yankees had often been connected to the former Red Sox outfielder, and it appears the rumors were on to something.

Now that the deal is done, and the Yankees have added an outfield upgrade to the team, let’s take a look at reactions from around the media and internet.

One major concern about the Yankees acquiring Benintendi was, in a very 2022 situation, his vaccination status. A few weeks ago, he was unable to go with the Royals to their Toronto series because he had not been vaccinated. While the Yankees only have one series left against the Blue Jays in the regular season, they’re a potential playoff opponent, and it’s something they definitely had to consider.

... or maybe they didn’t consider it much? Either way, it seems as if Benintendi will get it.

As for the player himself, the Yankees themselves seem fairly excited about the deal and the new addition to the lineup.

He’s a guy that has hit well this year, and has been pretty good at getting on base, which has the potential to really fit into the Yankees’ lineup.

As for what the Yankees gave up, there are some solid prospects with potential in the deal, but it seems like the Royals were willing to go more for a larger number of prospects than getting any of the massive, potential high-impact talent.

Despite that, Sikkema in particular is an arm that has shown a decent amount of promise, especially this year.

This being one of the biggest deals of the trade deadline season so far, this is also an acquisition that could set the market for other trades to come, especially since Benintendi is set to be a free agent at the end of the season.

It’s also not hard to read into this move that the Yankees wanted an upgrade on Joey Gallo. One of 2021’s deadline acquisitions, Gallo has struggled in both of his seasons with the Yankees and has been borderline unplayable at points this year. Benintendi represents not only an improvement in numbers in 2022, but a stylistic difference in player.

While there’s nothing concrete at time of writing, it seems fairly likely that the Yankees will try to move Gallo at some point over the next couple days.

For the most part, this seems to be a solid deal for the Yankees, other than it maybe taking them out of the running for Juan Soto. (Although, they could still do it if they wanted.) What it didn’t do was take them out of the running for one of their other main targets, Reds’ pitcher Luis Castillo.

Castillo ended up going to the Mariners, but none of these three so-so prospects would’ve likely been the difference-maker in a possible deal.

In this deal, they managed to add a pretty good bat and far from emptied the farm system.

There are still a couple more days to go before the deadline, and still plenty more potential deals to be made. It remains to be seen who and what the Yankees will target exactly, but they’ve now jumped into the pool and made a bit of a splash.