3 Outfielders to Target if Andrew Benintendi Goes Elsewhere

The trade deadline is now just over a week away, and while the dam hasn’t broken on the trade market yet and many of the top candidates still have yet to be dealt, rumors are flying around like crazy. Teams are calling about Shohei Ohtani, a possible frontrunner may have emerged in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, and perhaps most importantly for the Houston Astros, talks are also heating up for Andrew Benintendi.

Benintendi has been talked about as a potential trade piece for a while now. Simply put, he’s the best outfielder about to hit free agency that plays for a bad team. It seems like a great fit for the Astros in the sense that his primary position is left field, and Michael Brantley, who normally alternates between left field and DH, has been hurt for over a month and still doesn’t have a set timetable for a return. In Brantley’s absence, left field has been a revolving door for Houston – Aledmys Diaz, Chas McCormick, and Yordan Alvarez have seen time at the position over the course of July. However, Diaz is a natural bench bat, McCormick has only hit well against lefties, and Alvarez has had to DH more in light of his recent hand injury. Trading for Benintendi would provide a solution there for the rest of the season.

The problem is, the Yankees have reportedly emerged as the lead suitor in trade talks, as per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It’s easy to see why – the Yankees have a greater number of high-profile prospects to use in trades, and if the reports are true, it might make sense for Houston not to overstep in a bidding war for someone they might not even be able to re-sign. After all, there’s always the option of trading for an alternative to Benintendi, and it just so happens that there are plenty (in no order; click the “next” button at the top to start slideshow).

Bryan Reynolds, CF (Pirates)

The talk about Reynolds getting traded has not been nearly as loud as it could’ve been. First, he started off the season slowly, and he has also been hurt with an oblique injury. However, in between those two events, he started hitting like his best self again, and he is due to return to action today. This could very well be the week that he re-establishes himself as a big piece on the trade market.

Trading for Reynolds comes with more trade-offs than trading for Happ or Benintendi would. The Astros would almost certainly have to part ways with someone on their Major League roster, in addition to a couple of high-quality prospects. It’s no Juan Soto-level trade package, but it’s not anything to sneeze at either. The benefit, though, is that he is under team control until 2025, and he presents the option of upgrading at center field instead of left field, another place where the Astros don’t yet have a clear long-term answer. There is no denying what Reynolds can do at his peak: last season, he was an MVP candidate, finishing 6th in the NL in fWAR with 6.1, batting over .300 with a wRC+ of 142 (5th in the NL). This season, he has a wRC+ of 126 and is only on pace for about 3 fWAR, but that’s still better than what Astros center fielders have offered this year – and it’s only a fraction of what Reynolds can do.

The Astros have lost a lot of marquee free agents over the years and had no trouble replacing them. The loss of Gerrit Cole was offset by the emergence of Valdez and Garcia in the rotation. Jeremy Pena has arguably been better than Carlos Correa this year, for about 1/50 of the price. The departure that has actually hurt the most was that of George Springer – since he went to Toronto, Houston hasn’t been able to field a long-term solution in center field. Reynolds could be the answer to that.

Of all the moves the Astros could make this deadline that qualify as “realistic”, this would be one of the boldest. It’s undoubtedly a bigger swing than trading for a Happ or a Benintendi, but it’s also the type of deal that a World Series favorite needs to make, and at 1.5 games back of the Yankees, the Astros haven’t been this close to the AL’s top seed for months. Acquiring Bryan Reynolds would truly shake things up, and the Pirates might feel as though they can get the best of both worlds by cutting him loose for future assets, considering the emergence of rookie outfielder Jack Suwinski. It would be a statement, and Astros fans have been waiting on a statement trade for weeks.

Michael A. Taylor, CF (Royals)

If the Yankees or some other team were to acquire Benintendi, it might serve the Astros to pursue a teammate of his. He’s making just $4.5M this year and next, due to hit free agency following 2023, and he’s another candidate to provide some stability in center field. In his first year with the Royals, he did not hit whatsoever, with a wRC+ of 77. This season, though, he has been a serviceable offensive player, as he has bumped that mark up to 113. He hasn’t shown it as much this season with an even 0 Statcast outs above average, but he is an uber-talented defender, proved by his 15 outs above average that nearly led all of baseball in 2021.

He’s also an above-average runner, sitting in the 85th percentile in terms of sprint speed, though he has only attempted 2 steals for some reason in 2022. He stole 14 bags a season ago, so the ability is certainly there. While he hasn’t necessarily lined up his best play on the offensive side of the ball with his best defense, getting a center fielder who can do both for that low of a cost could end up being a huge value play for the Astros.

Between Benintendi and the other 2 options presented thus far, Taylor has the least amount of demand on the trade market at this moment, but his skillset opens up the possibility that he could be a wise, low-risk investment that has shown the ability to play the corner positions in the past to go along with center field. With Taylor, Reynolds, and Happ, the Astros have the option to play it safe, go bold, or a mix of both in the event that they lose out on the Andrew Benintendi sweepstakes. The beautiful thing about having flexibility on the trade market is that any of those options would get them closer to another World Series ring.