Alex Cora’s Andrew Benintendi trade comments were a mixed bag
Andrew Benintendi is a New York Yankee, and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is among the millions of people who aren’t happy about it.
Ahead of Benintendi’s Yankees debut on Thursday, his former manager had kind words for him. His new team? Not so much.
"“Good for him. He worked hard to get back [to his old swing]. “Happy for the person. We’ll leave it at that.”"
As a former Sox player himself, Cora has a long history with the Yankees. At the start of the 2018 World Series parade, he famously boasted, “We scored 16 runs at Yankee Stadium, suck on it!”
But it’s always somewhat awkward, if not absolutely terrible when a player goes from the Red Sox to the Yankees or vice versa. Even though Benintendi’s trip included a long stretch with the Kansas City Royals, his return to the American League East in pinstripes is sure to be painful for Sox fans who’ve supported him all along.
Will Andrew Benintendi be successful with the Yankees?
Benintendi’s career was on a downward spiral when the Sox dealt him to the Royals ahead of the 2021 season, and part of the blame for that can be placed on Cora meddling with the lineup. Ahead of the 2019 season, the Sox manager announced that Benintendi and Mookie Betts would switch places in the lineup, with the former moving up to the leadoff spot. The logic was that if Benintendi could get on base, Betts would have a runner to drive in when he inevitably doubled or homered. Unfortunately, Benintendi collapsed when put in the top spot, putting up some of the worst numbers by a Sox leadoff man in decades; in 48 games as the first batter in the game in 2019, he hit .119/.229/.143 with a .372 OPS, only one extra-base hit, five walks, and 16 strikeouts. Betts suffered from moving down in the lineup, too. By the end of May, Cora switched them back, and while Benintendi improved, he never got back to the player he’d been in seasons past.
By his final year with the Sox, he played only 14 games, hitting .103/.314/.128 with a .442 OPS. His struggles at the plate led to him also faltering defensively and on the basepaths. The Sox dealt him to the Royals, where a change of scenery and lessened pressure worked wonders. He won his first career Gold Glove in 2021 and was a first-time All-Star earlier this month.
On Thursday night, Benintendi will become the 236th player in MLB history to work both sides of the historic rivalry. Hopefully, it won’t last long; he’ll be a free agent after this season. But before that happens, the Sox will see him in August, when he returns to Fenway Park with the enemy.