Andrew Benintendi is now wearing No. 23 for the White Sox. His signing became official Tuesday after he passed his physical, and the outfielder met with the media Wednesday afternoon.
Andrew Benintendi
The structure of the five-year, $75 million contract is notable. Benintendi receives a $3 million signing bonus, and the rest of it is backloaded:
- 2023: $8 million
- 2024: $16.5 million
- 2025: $16.5 million
- 2026: $16.5 million
- 2027: $14.5 million
We've discussed before how the Sox are bumping up against their self-imposed payroll limits for the 2023 season, so perhaps they convinced Benintendi to take a little less money in the first year of the contract in order to free up space to make one more free agent signing.
All of the big free agents are off the board now, but the Sox still have needs at second base, in the outfield and in the starting rotation.
We're hearing more talk of the Sox being satisfied with their internal options at second base and starting pitcher. I'm not satisfied, but my roster evaluations tend to be different than those of the Sox front office.
But I digress.
Is there another outfield signing in the future? Perhaps the Sox would be interested in Adam Duvall, or some other right-handed hitting outfielder?
It would make sense. The projected starting outfield is Benintendi in left, Luis Robert in center and rookie Oscar Colas in right. (Eloy Jimenez is a designated hitter, as far as I'm concerned.)
Victor Reyes and Billy Hamilton will be in spring training on minor league contracts, but neither man should be anything more than a fifth outfielder.
The Sox need a reliable fourth outfielder in case the rookie Colas struggles. Not to mention, they need a reliable fourth outfielder in the event that Robert gets injured again. We've yet to see Robert play 100 games in a season, so it only makes sense to have a sensible option in place should a backup center fielder be needed.
Right now, Colas is probably the backup center fielder, which isn't fair to the rookie. Or, maybe Hamilton is the backup center fielder, but frankly, he's not good enough to be trusted in that role.
I'd prefer a right-handed bat for the outfield, since Colas bats left. We'll see if the Sox have a move up their sleeve.
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