A lefty from bean-town
I know Andrew Benintendi been mentioned before, but he’s worth mentioning again. He’s a superb defender that Boston’s deployed in all three fields, hits line drives all over the ballpark, and at 26-years-old is just entering his prime years.
His 2018 season looked like a breakout year. He batted .290/.366/.465/.831, hit 16 homers, doubled 41 times, and tacked on six triples, to finish with a .357 wOBA, 123 wRC+, and 4.4 fWAR, but a series of foot and leg injuries that began in spring training nagged him throughout the season.
Benintendi knows the strike zone: until injury hampered him in 2019, he struck out at a well below league average 16.5% rate and walked at a 10.6% rate.
Atlanta Braves
In the offseason, he tried to bulk up and gain power. Instead of helping, the extra bulk slowed him down and hurt his numbers in the short 2020 sprint. Reports out of Boston (video, sorry, no link) indicate that the team trainer checked in with him and found he’d shed the extra bulk and looked like the player he was in 2018.
Sox manager Alex Cora loves what Benintendi brings to his lineup.
"When this kid got drafted, he was probably the best hitting prospect coming out of college,” Cora said recently. “Those first-rounders, they don’t get lucky, they’re good. I still believe Andrew Benintendi is a good player, I think Andrew Benintendi is an impactful player . . ."
Benintendi signed a two-year deal last January that pay him $6.6M this season; the Atlanta Braves would control him through 2022, his last arbitration-eligible season.
An offer of Newcomb, Johan Camargo, Daysbel Hernandez, and Terrone Harris brings Benintendi to Atlanta.
Neither Polanco nor Benintendi fits as the big bat the Atlanta Braves need behind Freeman, but their price would allow the Atlanta Braves to acquire that bat.