White Sox protect Andrew Benintendi from outfield overhaul

Dominic Fletcher and Kevin Pillar have a few things in common. As a platoon, they were the White Sox's Plan A for right field before Luis Robert Jr.'s injury ruined the outfielder's order. They both lost their major-league jobs on Friday due to Tommy Pham, as the White Sox optioned Fletcher to Charlotte and designated Pillar for assignment.

Another uniting element for the text chain: Even though their contributions were negligible, both were handily outproducing Andrew Benintendi.

Nevertheless, Fletcher returned to Triple-A with the White Sox hoping the world can stop spinning so quickly on him, and Pillar conducted an exit interview on Foul Territory from his car, while Benintendi continues to get everyday playing time.

Nobody should expect any different, because the White Sox's financial commitment to Benintendi -- three years, five months and $61 million, but who's counting -- grants him a certain level of immunity from the rat race. Still, should Benintendi continue struggling to such a dramatic degree, I'm going to be fascinated by how the White Sox wrestle with it, because there might not be much else to watch.

Benintendi's issues can't really be overstated, because he's failing on both sides of the ball. He's the least productive hitter in baseball among those with as many plate appearances, and Statcast says he has the lowest success rate of any left fielder.

The sample sizes are small, but large enough to take some measures. An equally underwater hitter like José Abreu has already lost his everyday player status after being relegated to the bottom of Houston's order, but the White Sox have been careful not to disturb nor discourage Benintendi.

Instead, it's the rest of the outfield that gets tinkered with. On Thursday, Pedro Grifol initially sat Benintendi, but it couldn't be taken as an acknowledgment of poor play or a costly mistake the day before, because Benintendi ended up pinch-hitting for Pillar, and, after striking out, manning center field for the first time since 2019. On Friday, Robbie Grossman was lifted for Rafael Ortega in right field, even though 1) Grossman drew two walks, and 2) Benintendi is equally or more deserving of defensive replacing.

White Sox leadership has been equally delicate with words. When Benintendi made the aforementioned costly mistake by failing to take charge on a fly ball to shallow left field, Grifol dodged holding Benintendi directly accountable after in Wednesday's game by roping in Paul DeJong, whom Benintendi should've called off ("I'll have to talk to both those guys to see why that play wasn't made").

When Chris Getz was asked about Benintendi's dismal start before Friday's game, he also didn't hint at any changes in the offing:

"It’s been streaky. Obviously, he’s playing below his standards. You see some quality at-bats, and then you see some at-bats that you feel like he’s giving away. He’s a player that is on the search of finding the right adjustment. You can see it from at-bat to at-bat, from pitch to pitch. He’s got a track record at the major league level. We’ve got to continue to support him. Defensively, I know there were some plays here recently where he didn’t get to balls that perhaps he had gotten to in the past. He’s got to stay at it, he does. He’s frustrated, and obviously we need that bat for us to be a productive offense. So we hope we can get him going pretty soon.”

It's unrealistic to expect drastic action at this point because of the inevitability Benintendi's contract impresses upon the circumstances. There probably won't be measures taken until a better, more enduring use of the playing time emerges. For the time being, he's going to get every chance to salvage his contract, because it's not really worth considering sunk costs at a time when the whole damn ship has split in twain. As long as the outfielders next to Benintendi continue being rotated in and out, nobody will have the bandwidth for begrudging except Pham, who begrudges as naturally as he breathes.

But Getz also acknowledged that Robert could return by mid-May, and that creates the closest thing to a deadline for improvement. If Robert resumes manning center field on an everyday basis while Pham, Grossman and/or Fletcher stabilize the other corner, Benintendi's playing time could finally come under serious scrutiny, at least if he continues looking 39 more than 29. At that point, the three years, 4½ months and $59.875 million will still keep him in the regular mix, but the White Sox need actual alternatives before the money that was spent becomes the money that might be eaten.