PTBNLs named in Benintendi/Cordero trade

Cesar Crespo

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He's 27 and hasn't done much to prove he's worth a roster spot.

He had some great BAbip luck in the minors too, though some of that might be because he hits the ball hard.
 

grimshaw

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Valdez is WS eligible now (obviously only if they get there), I’m guessing that is the reason for the timing
And with no reason to keep Perez, he could be next man up. It may be a good time to try and sneak him (Cordero) through waivers just in case.
 

Manramsclan

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The odd timing of this DFA is further confirmation to me that this trade was never about Franchy and always about Winckowski and the three PBTNL (Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell from the Royals and minor league outfielder Freddy Valdez from the Mets.)

I think we knew this but it bears mentioning that he wasn't the focus but rather was an in season lottery ticket who could be a major league OF without worrying about disrupting his development (or lack thereof).
 

Trapaholic

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Does not sound ideal. We probably will not find out, but I wonder if they knew this at the time of the trade? Making this transition at the start of a new season is odd.
 

Sausage in Section 17

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Does not sound ideal. We probably will not find out, but I wonder if they knew this at the time of the trade? Making this transition at the start of a new season is odd.
Is it though? He probably just found out that he wasn't going to make a club as a position player, so it may have been pitching or a new career. I can recall only a handful of players who have succeeded this way. Wakefield, Ron Mahay, Rick Ankiel (I think he played the field after pitching...?). It happens, but not very often.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Is it though? He probably just found out that he wasn't going to make a club as a position player, so it may have been pitching or a new career. I can recall only a handful of players who have succeeded this way. Wakefield, Ron Mahay, Rick Ankiel (I think he played the field after pitching...?). It happens, but not very often.
Ankiel did go from the mound to the outfield.

Another good example is Kenley Jansen. He was a catcher for the Netherlands in the 2009 WBC. The next year he debuted in the Dodgers bullpen.
 

Big Papa Smurph

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Is it though? He probably just found out that he wasn't going to make a club as a position player, so it may have been pitching or a new career. I can recall only a handful of players who have succeeded this way. Wakefield, Ron Mahay, Rick Ankiel (I think he played the field after pitching...?). It happens, but not very often.
Sean Doolittle has had a nice career after converting from 1st baseman to pitcher in the minors. And former Red Sox reliever, Alexi Ogando, was an outfielder in the minors before he was a pitcher. Converting to pitcher is definitely worth a try if you have no future as a position player.
 

Kliq

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Anthony Gose was an outfielder for years in MLB before making the majors again as a pitcher with Cleveland a few years ago. He was doing okay too, but had Tommy John last September.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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So it's easy to name players like Wakefield who did this successfully. How many others tried and failed, dooming themselves forever to obscurity?
 

shaggydog2000

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So it's easy to name players like Wakefield who did this successfully. How many others tried and failed, dooming themselves forever to obscurity?
The overwhelming majority. It's a desperation move. But it's got a better chance than just going home when they tell you you're done as a hitter.
 

billy ashley

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Does not sound ideal. We probably will not find out, but I wonder if they knew this at the time of the trade? Making this transition at the start of a new season is odd.

I suspect they talked about it before the start of the season.

He's an interesting cautionary tale in terms of evaluating prospects in the summer leagues. There was a lot of buzz around him when he was traded to Boston, a lot of folks were surprised he was the throw in PTBNL. He wasn't a star prospect, but he was a guy folks thought could pop once in the lower in minors - think the early reports we heard of guys like Miguel Bleis 2 years ago (albeit, with a very different skill set). He was a guy that folks thought could be a really good prospect shortly before the trade, someone to follow.

He had some decent results in the summer league and scouts like his physical tools, a lot.

Sox Prospects ranked him very highly initially due to his reputation but strongly reversed course after seeing him live for the first time. Their view on him was that it was true that he was a physically gifted athlete with lots of strength and raw power, but very little to like in terms of the hit skill. They didn't feel he had good pitch recognition and his swing was ugly.

Below is the write up from Ian Cundell after they got some exposure to him:

While Freddy Valdez fell all the way to 51st in the August SoxProspects rankings, it is better thought of as a correction following our receipt of information from scouts in Fort Myers. When we initially ranked Valdez after he was acquired from the Mets as part of the Andrew Benintendi trade, it was based on limited data after his performance in Mets’ extended spring training. Based on a much larger sample, we consider his current rank where he probably should have been to begin with. Valdez is hitting .221/.358/.325 in 92 plate appearances this year. He has four doubles and two triples, but has yet to hit a home run. Scout feedback has been tepid as well. His swing is ugly, and he lacks plate discipline. Valdez has a bit of bat control and some power, but as a potential below-average defensive corner outfielder, he is going to have to be an impact bat to reach his potential, and scouts are skeptical about that occurring.

http://news.soxprospects.com/2021/09/scout-chatter-eduardo-vaughan-freddy.html

He's said to have a really strong arm. Hopefully he's able to make something out of pitching.

Baseball is really hard.
 

ngruz25

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JM3

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Winck (24): $722k, 1.1 bWAR (team control until like '29?)
Gambrell (25): recently up to AA, 6 IP, 2h, 1r, 8k, 0 bb
De La Rosa (20): 2.88 ERA in A, 26k in 25 IP

Benny (28): 5/$75m, 0.4 bWAR
 

Rovin Romine

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Winck (24): $722k, 1.1 bWAR (team control until like '29?)
Gambrell (25): recently up to AA, 6 IP, 2h, 1r, 8k, 0 bb
De La Rosa (20): 2.88 ERA in A, 26k in 25 IP

Benny (28): 5/$75m, 0.4 bWAR
The Sox traded Benintendi's 21 and 22 seasons of control. That is on one side of the scale. The other is what they got back. Whatever happens to Benintendi afterward, good or bad, is mostly irrelevant.
 

JM3

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The Sox traded Benintendi's 21 and 22 seasons of control. That is on one side of the scale. The other is what they got back. Whatever happens to Benintendi afterward, good or bad, is mostly irrelevant.
5.8 bWAR, $13.5m
 

Humphrey

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Gammons (at least I think it was Gammons) said the same thing about Frankie Rodriguez.
There were more than one knucklehead on the radio demanding Craig Hansen go to the big club and be the closer right out of college.
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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There were more than one knucklehead on the radio demanding Craig Hansen go to the big club and be the closer right out of college.
Silly knuckleheads. Those of us with knuckles on our fingers knew he needed at least nine but no more than eleven appearances in the minors before he could sniff the show.
 

oumbi

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For those of us still keeping score on this trade, maybe Khalil Lee wasn't as valuable as some might of thought.

View: https://twitter.com/SawxSouth/status/1656899048148725766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1656899048148725766%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=



Lee was traded from KC to the Mets in the three-team (along with the Red Sox) Benny/Franchy/Winckowski deal. (We also got Luis De La Rosa, Grant Gambrell, and Freddy Valdez as PTBNL's.)



MiLB-Transactions

@tombaseball29
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May 12
#Mets have released the following minor league players: RHP Kevin Ribon OF Khalil Lee
 
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