Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol has a record of making baffling comments. His most recent one might be the worst one yet.
Grifol on Dominic Fletcher, who hasn't had AB since return. "Gavin is hitting third, Pham is hitting first and Beni is a consistent pillar in our lineup. He’ll come in for defense and do some stuff. He has to wait for an opportunity and take advantage of it.'
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) May 20, 2024
The comment is bad on two levels. The first one is if Benintendi is considered a pillar for his play and not his bloated contract, then no wonder why the structure has come crumbling down.
Benintendi has the worst OPS in the majors among players who qualify to be ranked. He is 162 out of 162 with a .494 OPS. Andrew Vaughn, the other assumed pillar of this team, is 159 with .555. Benintendi has a wRC+ of 37 and is currently a -1.4 fWAR player. If that is considered a pillar, then it is rotted out.
His slash line in May is .158/.183/.211. He is 9 for 57 this month and looks completely lost at the plate. His slash line with runners in scoring position this season is .182/.178/.341
Benintendi isn’t a pillar; he is a poster boy for why this team is so bad.
Benintendi made two poor plays in yesterday's 9-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays that was a prime example of just how badly he has impacted this team recently.
Eloy Jimenez led off the top of the second with a single. Benintendi came up and promptly hit into a double play. Paul DeJong followed up with a hit and Korey Lee drove him in. Instead of leaving the inning with two runs if Benintendi could move over Eloy, the Sox left the inning with a single run. With such a small margin for error, that adds up.
Then in the bottom of the frame, Bo Bichette hit his first of three doubles because Benintendi played him deep. The ball snuck on the correct side of the foul line. Now it was smart to play Bichette deep even if he was struggling. The problem is Benintendi just doesn’t have the athleticism to cover the ground and tried to make a sliding catch, instead of just letting it bounce and stopping the ball from getting away. Bichette later scored on Varsho's home run
Even worse was Grifol played Benintendi over Corey Julks who had an amazing game the day before in New York. The matchup suggests Benintendi should play, but when he has been so bad, play the hot bat.
The scary part is Pedro might actually believe Andrew is a pillar beyond his contract mandating it. That has also cost Dominic Fletcher playing time.
The player was anointed as the starting right fielder struggled at the beginning of the season and was demoted to Triple-A. He was brought back and has not played at all. Pedro is telling him to wait not because Benintendi's contract dictates it, but because Grifol believes Benintendi is a foundation piece.
Benintendi has been given infinite patience when Fletcher got the quick hook. Oscar Colas has been buried in the minors too because he did not play up to Grifol's standards. Pedro's viewpoint is killing developing young players who still have the ability to help the team down the road.
Benintendi is at the point where he should have a phantom injury and spend some time on the 10-day IL to clear his mind.
The most frustrating part was Grifol made a very good comment yesterday when it came to Brad Keller getting designated for assignment.
Grifol on Keller: "He threw good for us out of the pen, we wanted to see him in the rotation. Saw him twice. And we wanted to go in a different direction."
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) May 20, 2024
It was a very simple statement that explains that Sox saw enough out of Keller and quickly moved on. Pedro could have easily said Benintendi has a major financial investment made in him and the Sox need to give him every opportunity to get right. At least it is better than calling him a consistent pillar.