1 Step Forward 3 Giant Steps Back
Say goodbye to another key piece to the 2018 World Championship Boston Red Sox. On Wednesday night, the Red Sox traded Andrew Benintendi to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Franchy Cordero and 2 players to be named later. In addition to sending Benintendi to the Royals, the Sox also sent an undisclosed amount of cash along with him. But hold the phone, there was a third-team involved, the New York Mets. What was their involvement? They acquired outfield prospect Khalil Lee from the Royals to send the Red Sox pitching prospect Josh Winckowski and a Player To Be Named Later. So, in total, the Red Sox acquired Franchy Cordero, Josh Winckowski, and 3 players to be named later.
Player Run Down
Franchy Cordero: The best way to put him, Willy Mo Pena 2.0. The dude looks like an absolute force coming in at 6’3 175 pounds. He will undoubtedly hit 500 foot home runs…during batting practice. Without a doubt, he has power and speed, and those are two tools that can be huge to have. Do you know what the issue with those being your only two tools? You need to actually hit the ball to be able to put them to use. Cordero is 26 years old and entering his 5th year in the league. Over those 5 years, he has never played in more than 40 games due to injuries. He is now traveling to his 3rd team five years after making his debut in 2017 with the Padres before moving on to the Royals for the 2020 season. If you can even say that, his best season was during 2018, where he appeared in 40 games, got 154 at-bats, and hit .237 with 7 home runs, 5 doubles, 1 triple to go along with the 14 walks and 55 strikeouts. It was also his only year where he has had over 100 plate appearances. Baseball-Reference projected his average numbers out over 162 games, which they do with all players, and he hit .236 with 20 home runs, 20 doubles, 48 walks, and 188 strikeouts. One National League scout went on record saying, “I like Franchy, I’d rather have him than Benintendi. Cordero is a little shy of the skill set of Joey Gallo.” Yea, you read that right, Joey friggen Gallo.
Josh Winckowski: Definitely seems to have a better upside than Cordero. He is only 22 and was ranked as the number 20th prospect in the Mets system by Baseball America. Winckowski, a 15th round draft pick by the Blue Jays in 2016, was the Northwest League Pitcher of The Year and Post Season All-Star while with Class A Vancouver in 2018. He reached Advanced A Ball in 2019 with a career ERA of 3.35 while in the minors. He is currently projected to be a big-league relief pitcher. He hasn’t pitched higher than A ball but reportedly has a very good sinker in the low to mid 90’s.
Khalil Lee: I know he was sent to the Mets so that I won’t spend too much time on him, but I just wanted to point out that this guy is 22 years old and was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round of the 2016 draft. From there, he went on to be named a Baseball America Rookie All-Star for his play that year. He played in Double-A in 2018 and 2019, where he batted .264 with 53 stolen bases, 21 doubles, 3 triples, and 8 home runs. He was also ranked as the Royals’ 8th best prospect according to Baseball America.
3 Players to be named later: In other words, here is a bucket of baseball and some bubble gum. Players to be named later never amount to anything, so don’t hold your breath.
Take Away
Chaim Bloom, what in the actual hell are you doing. In all seriousness, what the hell are we doing here? Listen, I fully get and understand trading Benny if the value is right, but seriously? All you got in return for him was Willy Mo Pena 2.0 and so low A ball relief pitcher? Jesus. Again, trading him is not the issue. I’m mad at the return. The Royals grossly underpaid for him. Hell, let them keep Cordero and send us Lee instead. At least at that point, we can look at it and say ok, we got two prospects with some upside, fine deal. Plus, at this rate, Cordero will be playing beer league softball before Benny even hits free agency. I get it our farm system is non-existent, but that doesn’t mean blow the entire team up like we are a low market team, oh like I don’t know, maybe the Tampa Bay Rays. Yea, I know they just went to the World Series, but guess who blew that for them? The damn nerds who never played baseball beyond tee-ball. How do the Rays respond? Oh, just by trading one of their stud pitchers and letting another walk away in free agency. That team deserves to play in that Dumpster they call Tropicana Field. In the end, Benny is making $6 million for the next two years, coming off a down year. My point is simple if that’s the return for him, why not keep him to start the year and see if he can start playing as he did in 2017 and 2018. Worst case scenario, you get the same offer at the deadline.
Conclusion
This is what is wrong with Baseball now; it is not even Baseball anymore! Its NERDBALL! These front office guys completely ignore strikeouts and batting average and only focus on “Ya, but he can hit 40 home runs and walk 50 times a year” WHO CARES. Jesus, play baseball one time for me. If that was the recipe for success, why has Billy Beene never made it to the World Series? Hell, why has he never even made it past the first round of the playoffs? Because when you have a team that’s made up of solely hitting home runs and walking, it plays out fine over the 162 games, but DOESNT WORK IN A BEST OF 7 SERIES. Yea, fine, maybe there is some bias here because I am a Benintendi fan, but the guy had 1 bad year, and you are willing to give up on him just like that? I’m throwing the 2020 season out for not only him but also anyone in the MLB who had a bad year. In today’s baseball, a guy that hits .270 drives in 80 runs and scores 100 times is viewed as invaluable. It’s gross. Something that also should not get lost in this is the fact that the Red Sox were the ones that made Benny change his swing to hit the ball in the air more. This is solely on them and their nerds for his struggles. The guy hit .271 and .290 in 2017 and 2018, and now after the 2018 offseason where he was told to bulk up and hit the ball in the air more by the Red Sox, and 2019 goes on to hit .266, it is his fault, and he is not valuable anymore? Give me a break! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Congrats, Red Sox; you just broke what would have been a very solid and consistent outfielder who was also a homegrown talent. Unbelievable! As for Chiam Bloom, my man, you better have a plan and have a plan quick, or else this town will chew you up and spit you out faster than you can say Red Sox.
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– Kevin Perdios (@Perdios95 on Twitter)