White Sox sign solid hitter, left fielder Benintendi to 5-year, $75M deal. So is Jimenez the DH?
For the White Sox, left is right.
They needed a left fielder and they needed a left-handed bat in the lineup.
The Sox got both on Friday, signing Andrew Benintendi to a five-year, $75 million contract.
When Benintendi passes a physical, the deal will rank as the largest in franchise history, surpassing catcher Yasmani Grandal's four-year, $73 million contract.
ESPN was first to report the Benintendi signing.
The 28-year-old outfielder is back with new White Sox manager Pedro Grifol. The two were together in Kansas City, where Grifol was the Royals' bench coach, in 2021 and through four months this past season.
After hitting .320/.387/.398 with 3 home runs and 39 RBI in 93 games for Kansas City, Benintendi was traded to the Yankees on July 27 for three prospects.
In 33 games with New York, Benintendi slashed .254/.331/.404 with 2 homers and 12 RBI.
His .304 combined batting average ranked sixth in the American League. Benintendi made his first All-Star Game appearance this season, and he won a Gold Glove in 2021.
The No. 7 overall pick in the 2015 draft out of Arkansas, Benintendi is a career .279/.351/.431 hitter over seven seasons with the Red Sox, Royals and Yankees.
As it stands now, Benintendi is the White Sox's starting left fielder, Luis Robert is set in center, and top prospect Oscar Colas is the leading candidate to play right field.
That leaves Eloy Jimenez at designated hitter, a role he is not fond of filling.
Jimenez prefers to be on the field in left, but he's sustained a number of injuries playing defense over the last four years.
At the winter meetings earlier this month, Grifol was asked about Jimenez's status for 2023.
"He's a huge part of this ballclub," Grifol said. "There are very few guys in this game that just want to be a DH. I don't expect my conversations with him to be, 'Hey, you're going to be a DH,' and it's like, 'Oh, yeah, great.' Very few players are like that. Players want to play, and I'm assuming he's going to want to do the same thing.
"So he's going to prepare to play the outfield. Obviously the DH role is a role that he can fill as well, but we've got to get him ready in spring training to be able to play some defense as well."