3 midseason Brian Cashman decisions that have killed the 2022 Yankees

2. Acquiring Andrew Benintendi

Bad trade acquisition? Not really. A low-risk trade acquisition (when better options were available) that won’t exactly change the complexion of the Yankees? Yes.

Benintendi is no doubt a solid player, but he’s unsurprisingly crawled back into his shell since arriving in the Bronx, hardly making an impact and failing to emphasize the top of the lineup or lengthen the middle/bottom of it. But that’s to be expected when you acquire a contact-heavy bat who’s been playing meaningless baseball for over 3.5 years now (two playoff-less, injured years with the Red Sox and 1.5 years with one of the worst MLB teams in the Royals).

Additionally, when you look at his defensive impact, despite being a “Gold Glove” left fielder, he’s entrenched in left field. He has hardly any experience playing elsewhere. At least Joey Gallo could play all three positions somewhat effectively. Benintendi eating up reps in left field just means more playing time for Aaron Hicks in center field, where he’s beyond atrocious. It’s unclear why he’s even being trotted out there every day at this point.

Did Cashman really think those somewhat-promising 35 games from Hicks indicated a turnaround? The guy has been bad or injured for YEARS now. In fact, his lone “full” productive season since debuting in 2013 remains his 2018 campaign, which earned him an undeserved seven-year extension. CashGod, we guess.

Look around the league. The Mets struck gold with Tyler Naquin (how?). David Peralta has been rock solid for the Rays. Robbie Grossman appears to be turning it around for the Braves. Tommy Pham is dominating for the Red Sox! The Yankees somehow end up with the worst deal of them all despite, on paper, acquiring the best player.

So, in trading for Benintendi, the Yankees got the cheapest top option on the market because of their hesitance to ever do something aggressive (Juan Soto, Ian Happ, Mike Yastrzemski, for example), they’ve maximized Hicks because Benintendi is not versatile on the defensive end, and they’ve taken away the Aaron Judge center field reps that make them a better team. The trade was bad for a multitude of reasons. The sad part is we can’t even go as far as to blame Cashman for not trading Hicks because, well, that contract is untradeable unless the Yankees eat a ton of the money or attach a prospect.

Now we’re DYING for the Harrison Bader era to begin even though most fans HATED that trade. Speaking of …