MLB Rumors: Joey Gallo and Andrew Benintendi are reportedly off the board, to the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox, respectively. Joey Gallo is reportedly getting $11 million for one year with Minnesota, while Benintendi is getting 5 years, $75 million from Chicago.
On Gallo, if he was only going to cost $11 million for one year, I would’ve expected the Rangers to be in on him at that price. Texas is looking for a short-term COF/DH option, Gallo has had success here, and that would have seemed to have been a great fit. It may be that, given the number of high-K bats the Rangers already have in their lineup, they are looking for someone who is more contact-oriented to balance that out. Or it may simply be that they simply weren’t interested in having Gallo back.
Meanwhile, in a surprising move, the Chicago White Sox apparently gave Andrew Benintendi five years. Benintendi is relatively young — he turns 29 in July — but he’s only a leftfielder, and defensively would seem average to a little above average. He had a 2.8 fWAR season in 2022, but that’s the only time he has been at 2 fWAR or better other than his 2018 season, which increasingly looks like an outlier. bWAR likes him more, having him at 3.2 for the 2022 season, but generally seeing him as a 2-3 win player during the course of his career, other than in 2018.
Maybe the White Sox see Benintendi as someone who they can extract more production from, and who offers more upside. If not, though, going five years for a late-20s 2-3 win left fielder seems like a really odd choice.