Francisco Lindor is setting himself up to be the villain with Indians fans

Keith Law claims the Indians are coming to the table with a good contract, but Fransico Lindor has chosen the black hat route and gone full villain on fans.

The issue was supposed to be Francisco Lindor begging the Cleveland Indians to stay in town. A place he’s claimed so often to love playing in. A place he called home. A place he never wanted to leave. A request that the Indians would eventually decline. It wasn’t supposed to be Lindor who broke up the relationship but that’s exactly what Keith Law is claiming after sitting down to talk with Bull and Fox on 92.3 FM

Law went on the show and revealed that Lindor not only broke off negotiations but is now outright refusing the calls from the ownership. An ownership that is looking to pay Lindor, according to Law.

"What I’ve actually heard…they would like to pay him, but he won’t even entertain contract extension offers. Absolutely his right to do that. They’ve tried to have those conversations…there just hasn’t been a negotiation at all. I personally think, knowing him and knowing who his representative is, they just want to go to free agency."

There’s no reason to doubt this, as Lindor’s agent David Meter is trying to get his foot through the door of clogged agencies. Meter’s other big-name client is Craig Kimbrel. Meter held Kimbrel out until June of last season when he finally got Kimbrel a deal with the Cubs. All Kimbrel did was absolutely tank. He inked a $43 million deal for three years and in year one absolutely bottomed out as the Cubs closer. He went 0-4 with a whopping 6.53 ERA.

If Lindor wants to play this out in the hopes he gets a 10-year deal worth $300-400 million good luck. The San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies have already failed year-one of their decade long deals with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. With ballooning prices across the league and the wait required to develop a prospect, it’s unlikely that the Padres and Phillies get many postseason opportunities.

Why would they? Albert Pujols has gone to the playoffs once since joining the Angles. Ken Griffey Jr. never got to the playoffs in Cinncinati. Same with Alex Rodriguez in Texas. Robinson Cano was so bad the Mariners had to find a team dumb enough to take him. Thank god the Mets exist, right?

If Garrett Cole, Anthony Rendon, and Stephen Strasburg struggle over the next few years, there might not be a market left for Lindor to exploit. Spending in baseball is out of hand and the recent wave of contracts proves it. No one player is worth $30 million because no one player can take over the game as someone can in basketball or hockey.

Unless the Majors can reign in the demands of its players, then the game of baseball will be broken by big contracts that never live up to their cost, thus killing the market and in turn anyone looking for a big deal after their deal is up.

It’s sad to find out just who Lindor really is. It’s even sadder to still see baseball without a salary cap.

The league is broken and something needs to finally change.