Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn’t care if New York teams get all the shine
For The Win’s Andy Nesbitt spoke with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts about his teams overlooked success this season with the Yankees and Mets dominating headlines.
Sports Seriously, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Andrew Benintendi has landed with the Yankees, a team suddenly in need of an offensive spark – plus a little more pitching, prior to Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge agreed that Benintendi’s acquisition form the Kansas City Royals – in exchange for three minor league pitchers – would provide a spark, “especially when you add a guy like that, hitting over .300 all year and playing great defense.”
Not long after the Yankees were swept in the two-game Subway Series, Queens edition, with a 3-2 loss to the Mets at Citi Field, the Yanks announced the deal for the lefty-hitting outfielder.
None of the three pitchers going to Kansas City – Chandler Champlain, Beck Way and TJ Sikkema – ranked higher than 19th on the Yanks’ prospect list, as rated by MLB.com.
Sikkema, a lefty, is No. 19, and the right-handed Way is No. 21.
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A free agent at season’s end, Benintendi, 28, is hitting .320 this season along with a .387 on-base percentage, but just three homers in 92 games.
“It will definitely be a big piece to what we have going on here,” Judge said of Benintendi, a member of the 2018 world champion Boston Red Sox and the 2017 runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year. “He’s a well-rounded player.
“I think adding a guy like that will give us a real pump-up, that’s for sure.”