4 players Cleveland Indians must get from Yankees in Francisco Lindor trade

Four players the Cleveland Indians must get in a trade for Francisco Lindor.

Baseball’s virtual winter meetings came and went, and trade speculation involving the Cleveland Indians four-time All-Star, Francisco Lindor, didn’t exactly hit a fever pitch.

Sure, there’s still speculation and prognostication as to what will happen with the 27-year-old, but  for now, Lindor’s place of employment remains on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

Heading into Christmas and considering the effects the pandemic on the season, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Lindor is still an Indian, or that the free-agent market hasn’t been that exciting across MLB.

Teams were expected to wait to see how things play out, and with the exception of a few moves, that’s the way things have played out to this point.

At this point of the offseason, the Indians may not be getting what they see as a fair return on Lindor. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported that he couldn’t find “one executive who thinks the Indians would get what the Red Sox did for Mookie Betts last offseason before we heard of COVID-19.”

Sherman added that he talked to eight executives during the past week, and quoted the one who came closest to saying the Tribe would shock the world and not trade their superstar.

"“I have too much respect for Chris [Antonetti, Indians president of baseball operations] to think he would make a trade without getting something of significance, so I guess I don’t think [Lindor] is definitely getting traded, but I do nevertheless think he is getting traded.”"

It’s too hard to believe Lindor sticks around, even for half the season. My guess is the Indians don’t want to deal with the speculation for half a season. They’re already up against a PR nightmare by trading the most beloved player since Omar Vizquel. Trading him in July when they’re in contention?

Let’s just say the front office would be giving long-time PR man Bob Dibiasio a heck-of-challenge.

New York seems like an obvious fit in a potential Lindor deal, but reports indicate the team is trying to stay under the $210 million luxury tax threshold. If they re-sign D.J. LeMahieu, they’ll keep Gleyber Torres at short and probably won’t be trading for Lindor.

Recently, we’ve looked at what the Indians should get in return from the Mets and the Blue Jays, but now, here’s a look at a realistic package from the Yankees.