The Kansas City Royals have acquired outfielder Andrew Benintendi in a three-team trade. The trade is between the Royals, the Boston Red Sox, and the New York Mets. The Royals got Benintendi, and the Mets get prospect outfielder Khalil Lee. The Red Sox, on the other hand, get outfielder Franchy Cordero, right-handed pitcher Josh Winckowski, two “players to be named later” or PTBNL’s from the Royals, and one PTBNL from the Mets. The team was broke on Twitter earlier tonight, and Jeff Passan tweeted out the final deal, pending a medical review.
The three-way trade is done, sources tell ESPN.
Royals get: OF Andrew Benintendi
Mets get: OF Khalil Lee
Red Sox get: OF Franchy Cordero, RHP Josh Winckowski, two PTBNLs from Kansas City, one PTBNL from New York
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 11, 2021
Benintendi, a 26-year old outfielder, was a former first-round draft choice of the Red Sox, being taken seventh overall in the 2015 MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. He would go on to play four years for the Red Sox and win a 2018 World Series Championship with the organization.
He now finds himself headed to the American League (AL) Central to compete with the Royals. In 2020, Benintendi hit .103/.314/.128 with just four hits. However, he only played in 14 games and is looking to bounce back and prove a point in 2021. Back in 2019, Benintendi played in 138 games for the Red Sox, where he hit .266/.343/.431 with 13 home runs and 68 RBI.
He will now be with the rebuilding Kansas City Royals, who are looking to sneakily advance up the AL Central rankings and prove their rebuild is starting to come to an end.
