We live in a time when we want everything now, this instant ... by the way, what's taking so long?
Fresh takes aren't fast enough. Every reaction must be immediate.
Seen through that prism, the complicated three-team deal that saw Andrew Benintendi dealt to the Kansas City Royals in February of 2021 was seen as an unmitigated disaster for the Red Sox.
In his first year with the Royals, Benintendi won a Gold Glove for his outfield defense, hit 17 homers and compiled a respectable .766 OPS.
Meanwhile, Franchy Cordero, the only one of the five players the Red Sox acquired in the transaction, played in just 48 games, slashed .189/.237/.260 and hit exactly one (1) home run.
Naturally, the deal was declared a disaster for the Red Sox. Oh and did we mention that the Red Sox were still paying $2.8 million of Benintendi's $6.6 million salary last year? No more calls, please, we have a loser.
Forget the other four prospects the Red Sox obtained in the deal, many of them at Rookie Ball and Single A.
Nope, the deal was a one-sided embarrassment. The Royals had snookered Chaim Bloom, and that was that.
But a funny thing happened in 2022. True, Benintendi is having a better year with the Royals, slashing .328 with a .394 on-base percentage. However, Cordero has blossomed, too. After starting the season at Triple A, he earned a promotion to the majors in late April. The early returns were, again, hardly encouraging.
Over time, though, he began to have more productive at-bats. And when Bobby Dalbec flatlined offensively, Cordero began to get more and more playing time. And the more chances he got, the better he performed.
In recent weeks, he become close to an everyday fixture. When he's not playing first, he's getting chances in the outfield. He won a game at Fenway last month with a walk-off grand slam, thrusting him rather unexpectedly into the role of Hero for a Day.
It's snowballed from there. He's shown far better strike zone judgement. He's demonstrated a patience that he never showed before, a quality on display Saturday when he worked an eight-pitch walk, a feat that would have been unimaginable only last summer.
Finally, Sunday, Cordero cracked a three-run, opposite field homer in the sixth inning, snapping a 1-1 tie and sending the Red Sox on to a 5-2 victory and a sweep of the Athletics.
"That ball,'' gushed Red Sox manager Alex Cora, "was demolished.''
Now, the snapshot of the deal looks far different. True, Benintendi's slash line still looks more impressive. While Cordero is at .247/.308/.441, Benintendi is at .321/.384/.415.
But while Benintendi has just about twice the number of at-bats, Cordero now has more homers (three to two), and nearly as many as RBI (18 to Benintendi's 21). And the slugging percentage is telling, too. Cordero is outslugging Benintendi by 26 points and, incredibly, has just one more extra-base hit -- 12 to Cordero's 11, again despite the huge disparity of playing time. Cordero has knocked in 15 runs in his last 14 games.
Though both are nominally outfielders and lefthanded hitters, they are, in fact, vastly different in terms of skill sets. Benintendi gets on base more frequently, but is really emerged as a singles hitter. Cordero, though, is faster, and has far more power potential. And while Benintendi is eligible for free agency this fall and is unlikely to be re-signed by the Royals, Cordero is under the Red Sox control for another two full seasons after this one.
(None of this takes into account what the Red Sox might one day show for themselves from among the four minor leaguers they acquired. Josh Winckowski made his major league debut late last month and remains a starting pitcher of promise at Triple A. The three other prospects are in the lower minors and it's far too early to project their impact).
Unlike a year ago, though, the major league portion of the deal, isn't so one-sided. While the Royals have a capable everyday outfielder, the Red Sox have an athletic specimen just now, at 27, beginning to realize his considerable gifts.
"(Improved) pitch recognition, been disciplined, not afraid of striking out,'' said Cora. "He's been really good for us. We're very proud of him. He's put in the work. There's a reason he's getting at-bats -- because he's contributing on a daily basis.''
Cordero deserves much of the credit for his turnaround. He played winter ball, and came to camp a changed hitter, intent on utilizing his strength, but not in a reckless way. He took a different approach to the plate, and began hunting for pitchers in which he could do damage. He no longer wildly chased pitches out of the strike zone, intent on hitting every ball 500 feet -- though, as he demonstrated with his sole homer last season in Philadelphia, he's occasionally capable of doing just that.
Just as it was premature to declare the trade a clear-cut win for the Royals a year ago, it's too early to proclaim Cordero as a budding star. In all likelihood, he will always be somewhat limited, given his strikeout rate and his difficulties hitting lefties.
But his play in the last month has served as a reminder that instant analysis can prove faulty. If it may takes years to see what sort of return, if any, the Sox get from Winckowski and the three others -- pitchers Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell and outfielder Freddy Valdez.
What's certain is that the Benintendi-for-Cordero portion of the swap wasn't so lopsided after all.