NEW YORK — The New York Yankees acquired outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for three minor league pitchers.
The exchange agreed on Wednesday is the first of several to be signed next week as the deadline for these measures expires.
Rights Chandler Champlain and Beck Way Go Royals with a left-hander DJ Sikkema.
Benintendi, a 28-year-old left-handed hitter, was one of 10 Royals players who missed the July 14-17 four-game series in Toronto because they were not vaccinated. In an arbitration appeal against the Royals, he forfeited $186,813 of his $8.5 million salary for not being vaccinated.
New York believes Benintendi is ready to vaccinate. No Yankees player has missed previous trips to Toronto this season, and the Yankees will play a series there Sept. 26-28.
Benintendi is hitting .320 with three homers, 39 RBIs and a .788 OPS. He won a Gold Glove last year in left field and hasn’t committed an error this season. He was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time.
Benintendi, who is eligible for free agency at the end of this season, gives the Yankees another outfield option in addition to Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks.
Giancarlo Stanton, who played in 38 games in the outfield, will miss at least two to three weeks of action. He went on the disabled list this week with a heel tendinitis.
Joey Gallo is batting .161 with 103 strikeouts in 230 at-bats. He became a constant target of boos.
New York used Matt Carpenter, 36, who had not played since 2014, heavily in the outfield.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone denied having too many power hitters on his team. Benintendi needs to improve on the team’s performance, where lefties hit .214 against righties, .258.
“We’ve got some good, wild hitters in the lineup. Benintendi’s a great hitter, he’s hitting at a very high rate, he’s hitting from the left side, so, yeah, he gives us some balance,” Boone said after Wednesday’s loss against the Mets.
