Chaim Bloom has reached the end of the long and winding road that sent Boston LF Andrew Benintendi to the Kansas City Royals. Almost four months after the first shovel was sunk into the Mets and Royals minor league sandbox, Bloom has sifted out who he believed were the best players offered to him in return for Benny Biceps.
Shipping up to Boston or to Florida
The Mets closed out their end of the deal, sending Right Fielder Freddy Valdez to the Sox. The 19-year-old Dominican has yet to reach A-Ball, spending 2019 (his only year as a pro) bouncing from the Dominican Summer to the Gulf Coast League. The Mets sent Boston righty Josh Winckowski on the day of the deal. Valdez is ranked as the 14th best prospect in the Mets organization by MLB.com.
Not so weak sauce
If Valdez is the meat in this meal the sauce has to be Royals prospects: Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell. Gambrell, a 23-year-old lefty pitcher, is by far the better player coming from KC. A third-round pick in 2018, he is currently throwing (Advanced A Ball) and has an ERA of 4.37 in 22 ⅓ innings. But has an impressive ground ball rate of 50%. Righty De La Rosa is the dice roll you should keep an eye on.
Still just eighteen, De La Rosa isn’t a ranked prospect but went off in 2019 DOSL. In 38 2/3 he struck out 52 batters while walking just 7 (Damn!) The Sox also received WooSox star Franchy Cordero from KC on deal day.
Final thoughts
And this my friends closes the book on Andrew Benintendi’s time in Boston. Did Bloom pick the right names, we won’t know that for years to come.
But he has more pieces to wheel and deal with than he did yesterday.
As always you can follow / Give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207