Kansas City Royals trade Adalberto Mondesi to Boston Red Sox
Adalberto Mondesi is the latest player dealt away by the Kansas City Royals, with the club sending him and a player to be named later to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
In return, the Royals are receiving 29-year-old left-handed pitcher Josh Taylor.
That comes one day after the Royals sent outfielder Michael A. Taylor to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for two pitching prospects.
Mondesi spent seven seasons with Kansas City and had been with the organization since 2012, when he made his minor league debut at 16 years old. In 2016, Baseball Prospectus listed him as the No. 16 prospect in Major League Baseball.
Despite the hype around his prospect status and occasional flashes of brilliance on the field, injuries severely curtailed Mondesi’s availability and production since being called up to the majors in 2016. Over the last seven years, Mondesi played in just 358 games, or about 51 games per season. He only played over 100 games once (2019), though he did play 59 of 60 games in the 2020 season that was shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
His best season came in 2018, when he posted career highs in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in just 75 games, posting the only above-average OPS+ of his career (115).
Mondesi will be a free agent next offseason.
Taylor joins the Royals after spending the last four years with Red Sox, although he didn’t play at all in 2022 due to a back injury. From 2019-21, Taylor made 121 appearances for Boston, with all but one coming in relief. His career ERA is 3.69, and in his last season on the field, 2021, he posted a 1-0 record with a 3.40 ERA in 61 games.
It’s been a busy week so far for the Royals after a relatively quiet start to the offseason, and according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today there could be more moves in the works for Kansas City.
The Royals are reportedly planning to sign veteran reliever Aroldis Chapman, although the club hasn’t announced anything official. Kansas City has also already signed free-agent pitchers Ryan Yarbrough and Jordan Lyles this offseason, in addition to Monday’s Taylor trade.
