A team source confirmed Sunday’s report that the Yankees have had “ongoing” talks with the Royals about Andrew Benintendi. The Royals are looking to trade the likely All-Star outfielder for prospects to help their rebuild, and they have had scouts on every level of the Yankees system since the start of the season looking for potential fits.
Looking for an upgrade in the outfield over a struggling Joey Gallo or Aaron Hicks, who has started to break out over the last month, the Yankees have also looked at the Pirates’ Brian Reynolds, but some in the Yankees organization believe Pittsburgh will eventually keep him to rebuild around.
The industry believes that the Royals are also asking for a high price for Benintendi, looking for a top prospect, and may not find a trade partner before the deadline. Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza, Jasson Dominguez, Austin Wells, and Ken Waldichuk are among the Yankees’ top prospects.
The Royals, on the other hand, spent weeks scouring the Yankees system in the spring and early months of the season, and some in their organization believe there are plenty of other prospects with whom they can work out a deal. Even in the Florida Complex League’s lowest level, the source said there are “lots of players to consider” in a possible deal. It’s worth noting that the Royals did show interest in Miguel Andujar during the 2019 Winter Meetings.
The Yankees are unquestionably in control as the trade deadline approaches on August 2. With the best record in baseball and a 15-game lead in the tough American League East, they must go into this looking for what they believe will help them in potential playoff matchups.
Brian Cashman stated on Thursday that they were assessing their needs.
So we have until the beginning of August to complete this task.
But we also understand that there is always unfinished business if there are opportunities to add, improve, and give [manager] Aaron Boone and his staff a better chance to compete, especially when it matters the most, which is if we qualify for [the playoffs] in October.
According to an American League executive, the Yankees have expressed interest in trading Gallo, whom they acquired from the Rangers at last year’s trade deadline. To say the least, the lefty-hitting outfielder has struggled to adjust to life with the Yankees. Gallo has slashed in 128 games .163/.295/.372 OPS, 23 home runs, 43 RBI, and 72 walks In 393 at-bats, he has struck out 180 times.
Benintendi would be a perfect fit. The 28-year-old is cutting. With a .789 OPS, he hit 317/.387/.402. Benintendi, a free agent after the season, spent five years in Boston, winning a World Series with them in 2018, so the transition to the Bronx would be easier.
The Yankees have proven to be a fairly complete team, so they are dealing from a position of strength, but there are some concerns as the season progresses.
Though their rotation has been fantastic to begin the season, there are some concerns about their pitching at the end of the season. Nestor Cortes, who has pitched 93 innings in his longest season in the majors, has already pitched 89 innings before the All-Star break and has struggled in his last six starts. While Luis Severino appears to be as good as he was in 2018, the Yankees are well aware that he has only thrown 27.2 innings in the previous three seasons due to injuries that included Tommy John surgery.
The Yankees have pitching depth with Clarke Schmidt, JP Sears, and even Domingo German, who could return from the disabled list before the All-Star break, so pitching isn’t high on their priority list.
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