The Yankees are said to be interested in Andrew Benintendi. Should we fear the Curse of the Reverse?

So there he is, the biggest trade target on our spectrum... 

Andrew Benintendi - age 27, hitting .314, former Gold Glove winner, owner of a World Series ring, a lefty bat and maybe - just maybe, a guy with a certain burning itch to make Boston suffer for dealing him away for Franchy Cordero. 

It is our fantasy, awaiting fulfillment. 

If we can just find a mark chump, patsy, fall guy  happy customer willing to take in Joey Gallo, surely, Cooperstown Cashman can swing a deal with KC that doesn't include the farm star stud list. Benitendi is a free agent in November, so how much can they get in return? And what fun it would be, watching him enact revenge upon his ex. (Fun fact: Benintendi has never come to bat against the Redsocks.) 

You'd think it's a done deal, the Yankees adding an old nemesis. 

But but BUT... ever since the Curse of the Bambino reversed, the Death Barge has had a problem with former enemies, who tortured us as opponents, then came to NY and tortured us as Yankees. Right now, Elan Musk has a better chance of putting a man on Mars than the Yankees do of putting another Wade Boggs on a horse.  

His numbers might look appealing, but we should be wary of Benintendi's impact on the juju gods. Consider three examples...

1. Kevin Youkilis. We picked up his sorry, over-the-hill butt in December of 2012, as part of a Cashman rebuilding year that went tragically south. (Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Old Ichiro - this is why Yank fans have a hard time trusting Cash.) Youk, then 34, played 28 games for us, batted .219. Two HRs. Ugh. Guy couldn't bend to tie his shoes. Remember how gleeful Boston fans were, as they mentioned him over and over?

2. Carl Pavano. In 2005, after his Marlins beat us, we signed him to a four-year-deal. He was going to buttress our rotation. Turned out couldn't buttress his own butt, which he famously bruised, en route to the DL. It was one thing after another. They called him "American Idle," a complete washout. Then, to add salt, he pitched well in Minnesota.

3. Jacoby Ellsbury. We signed him after letting Robbie walk. Remember how he was going to torture Redsock fans? Turns out, he was more popular in Boston while wearing Yankee pinstripes. He became their regular greeting: "Hey, how's Jacoby doing?" We paid him $21 million per season for seven years, then added a $5 million buyout, just to say farewell. In four years with the Yankees, he hit .264- 33 points below his time with Boston. The last few years, we paid him to stay away.

Nothing more pleasures us than to picture Redsock fans stewing in their self-absorbed misery, playing the "o sad me" harp, because an old fave switched uniforms and beat them. That's why, for all his shit, Yank fans still smile at the memory of Roger Clemens. 

But there is danger in thinking we can rehabilitate enemies into honest U.S. citizens. We may befriend them, pay them well and treat them with respect... only to learn that they are double-agents who have weaseled their way into our good graces, only to destroy us from within.

Remember: Once is happenstance, twice coincidence, but three times is enemy action.

Bevare... bevare... bevare...

We must be careful with Andrew Benintendi. Isn't there a guy out there we've never heard of, who lugs no old time baggage?