The Cleveland Indians may find it harder to trade Francisco Lindor than necessary.
There’s a very real chance that Francisco Lindor isn’t traded in 2020 or even 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s right, the Cleveland Indians may be without a trade partner due to the most unforeseen global event in years. With the majors getting ready to start up and the clubs getting word on which players are or aren’t planning on participating, the Indians continue to hammer out what they intend on doing with Lindor.
With the two years left on his contract, Lindor has a very attractive situation that teams would normally leap at but with the pandemic currently on an uptick, and players testing positive at a high clip, teams probably aren’t going to be as motivated to go chase down trade deals. Not only are you risking your team by bringing in a new asset, but you’re also risking that asset by having him travel to the designated area in which the clubs are playing.
On top of that, there’s still a chance the entire 2020 MLB schedule, in all of its 60 game glory, won’t even be finished this year. If there’s a huge outbreak among a team or one of the smaller regions that the teams are playing in, it’s entirely possible that Rob Manfred shuts down the season.
That leaves teams essentially in a holding pattern. No contracts will get rollover time for any season not played or not completed. So not only are you taking a risk by renting a player for a season or so, but you’re also risking not even finishing said season to begin with.
When talks of trading Lindor started, the only question surrounded the assets in return. Now there’s a possibility that Lindor could walk away from the Indians for nothing, and all because of a global pandemic.