The White Sox notoriously do not like to spend a ton of money on contracts. In fact, team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf tends to feel at the mercy of his “dumbest” counterparts who do like to shell out a lot of cash.
Which is why it felt somewhat noteworthy last winter when general manager Rick Hahn was able to sign slugging outfielder Andrew Benintendi and his 73 career home runs to a mega-deal (by Chicago standards): 5 years, $75 million. It was the largest contract handed out in franchise history.
Benintendi filled a huge need in the field and Hahn was able to get a seemingly proven commodity on the market. Except that Benintendi’s White Sox tenure has been a bit of a nightmare so far.
In 66 games this season, the outfielder is slashing a career-low .265/.336/.349. Worse, Benintendi hasn’t been able to tap back into his power despite the Sox playing in one of the most homer-friendly ballparks in MLB. Benintendi finally hit his first home run of the season on Friday night in Seattle, snapping a 291-day drought. Naturally it came in one of the tougher stadiums to homer in, because baseball.
Andrew Benintendi finally got his first home run of the season last night 😎 pic.twitter.com/f2OlUBFDdK
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 17, 2023
“It’s definitely nice to see him hit a homer,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol told reporters. “But there’s a reason he hasn’t hit homers. I’m not going to get into that right now, but it’s nice to see him hit one. You want him to get that one out of the way so he can get everybody off his back.”
At this rate, the White Sox are paying Benintendi $15 million per year for an average of 2.45 home runs per season — which is obviously a joke but also the exact type of logic you just know Reinsdorf is going to use the next time his general manager wants to offer a free agent their market value.
Anyways, the White Sox (30-41) remain 5.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the American League Central lead, because again, baseball.
