At this point, it feels safe to say Andrew Benintendi won’t be wearing a Royals uniform by the time Aug. 2 rolls around.
Benintendi has been a popular topic of Major League Baseball trade rumors for some time now. And it makes all the sense in the world for Kansas City to move the 28-year-old outfielder, who was named an All-Star this season and is on an expiring contract.
The real question is where will Benintendi wind up? One team to keep an eye on is the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves, who have made the seventh-year pro their priority leading up to the deadline, per The Athletic’s Jim Bowden.
“Benintendi tops their target list because he is a strong defensive player with a high on-base percentage and he’s a left-handed hitter, which would help balance their lineup better,” Bowden wrote in a column published Tuesday.
The Braves might find themselves in an arms race to acquire Benintendi, though, as his trade market figures to be rather robust. Bowden believes the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and Chicago White Sox also are “good fits” for the seventh overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft.
The Yankees, specifically, have been labeled as “serious contenders” to land Benintendi despite the fact that he is not vaccinated, thus making him ineligible to play in Toronto.
