Andrew Benintendi, an all-star outfielder and potential trade target for several teams ahead of next month’s deadline, is one of 10 Kansas City Royals players not vaccinated against Covid-19 and placed on the blacklist ahead of their team’s four-fight will. Game series in Toronto starting Thursday.
In addition to Benintendi, the team will be without utility players Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier; catchers Cam Gallagher and MJ Melendez; outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Kyle Isbel; and pitchers Brady Singer, Brad Keller and Dylan Coleman, Royals manager Mike Matheny said.
Prior to this series, Canada’s vaccination requirements had resulted in only 25 players being banned in the entire league. Most recently, the Phillies had to leave four players behind as a guest. The royals are set to expand that list dramatically as nearly 40 per cent of their 26-man squad has been declared ineligible. The team will fill its roster with players from the smaller leagues.
Players on the restricted list will not receive service time and will not be paid for the games they miss.
Singer, a right-hander who allowed a run in six innings in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, would not have been scheduled for the Toronto pitch regardless of his vaccination status. But the Royals will sorely miss some of the other players, none more so than Benintendi, who increased his batting average to .317 by playing 2 for 4 on Wednesday.
While being short-handed for four games is an issue, a more pressing concern for Kansas City, who have 18 games under .500 this season and most recently in the American League Central, might be how this news will affect Benintendi’s trade value. Seen as a target for teams looking for a batsman to put the ball in play, Benintendi’s ineligibility for Toronto games could complicate any potential deal.
Benintendi, 28, will be a free agent after this season. A first-round draft pick for the Boston Red Sox in 2015 from the University of Arkansas, he has career-high batting averages and base odds so far this season, averaging .414 in his last (24 to 58). 16 games. But its value is somewhat limited as it doesn’t offer much in terms of power, baserunning or defense.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have their own pre-series drama with the team announced the sacking of manager Charlie Montoyo On Wednesday. Montoyo has been popular with players, media and fans, but Toronto went into the season with World Series ambitions and has so far come in with a 46-42 record, 15.5 games behind the Yankees in the American League East and in a virtual lies, underperforms tie with the Seattle Mariners for the AL’s third and final wildcard spot.