The Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals agreed to a three-team exchange involving outfielder Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi will go to the Royals, with the prospect of Khalil Lee going to the Mets, and Franchy Cordero, Josh Winchowski and three players who will be named later will join the Red Sox.
This is the deal in an easier to process format:
- Red Sox receive: OF Franchy Cordero, RHP Josh Winchowski, three players to be named (two from Royals)
- Royals receive: DE Andrew Benintendi
- Mets receive: DE Khalil Lee
Benintendi, 26, was limited to 14 games last season. In those competitions, he hit 0.103 / 0.314 / 0.128 (27 OPS +) with six more eliminations than hikes in 52 plate appearances. Benintendi was then paralyzed with a twist in the rib cage. He entered the season with 0.277 / 0.354 / 0.442 (109 OPS +) in his career, averaging 18 home runs and 18 bases stolen in 162 games. Benintendi, who will earn $ 6.6 million this season, still has two years of control over the team.
The Royals want to start Benintendi on the left field almost every day. Elsewhere in its outfield, Kansas City will likely start Whit Merrifield every day and use some combination of Edward Olivares and Michael A. Taylor at the other location.
The Red Sox, in turn, will add Cordero to a field mix that already includes Hunter Renfroe and Alex Verdugo. Cordero reached the .236 / .304 / .433 mark (99 OPS +) in 315 matches in major leagues. Although he has many tools, he has lost about 35 percent of his career trips to the dish, limiting his roof. Boston will also acquire Winchowski, a potential back-end holder that Mets acquired in the Steven Matz business.
As for Lee, he entered 2020 ranked as one of the Royals’ best candidates. Here’s what CBS Sports said about him over the winter:
Lee was one of the Royals contenders who competed the most in the 2020 season. He had a 2019 mix: all of his top tier numbers improved over an entire year at Double-A, but, strangely, his underlying metrics were all in the direction wrong. To make matters worse, there is a lot of variability in his profile: whether he will be able to stagger in his swing-and-miss; if he can stay in the center; how much energy it will be able to generate; and so on. In that sense, Lee is now one of the players who shot the most in 2021.
It is unclear when the nominated players will be revealed.