Francisco Lindor struggles: New York rumor you can’t forget

Former Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor is having his “Welcome to New York” moment.

The man the Mets committed $341 million dollars to before the season is playing the worst baseball of his career. He’s lost at the plate and now his defense is suffering. He made a costly error in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday, and that led to his benching in Game 2.

Lindor is now taking a daily beating from New York beat writers wondering when New York’s big investment will pay off, while not waisting anytime noting how much better Jonathan Villar, who is Lindor’s backup, was better than the man he replaced in the Game 2.

Here’s what the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff wrote about a terrible day on the diamond.

"“Lindor, the Mets’ $341 million man (plus the $22.3 million he’s earning this year), tallied his first ‘Did Not Play’ for his new team after registering perhaps his worst overall game in a Mets uniform. Not only did he go 0-for-3 hitting leadoff in Game 1, failing to send the ball past the infield or sniff as hard as 85 miles per hour on his exit velocity, but he committed a costly error on defense, his bad throw to first on Nolan Arenado’s two-out, fifth-inning grounder opening the door for Mets-killer Paul DeJong to smoke a two-run insurance homer off tough-luck losing pitcher Marcus Stroman.”"

Lindor’s got to bust out of whatever slump he’s dealing with, right? I think so. I hope so. I’m not rooting against Francisco Lindor. Quite the contrary. He’ll always be a favorite in the household, mostly because he made the Cleveland Indians fun again.

That said, I can’t forget his mediocre 2020 season–you know, the one where he admitted he didn’t train properly for and was basically out of gas by the time the postseason rolled around.

Everyone just assumed he’d snap out of it once his financial future was secured. Instead, Lindor is making Jake Bauers look like Joe DiMaggio. the four-time All-Star is slashing a dreadful .157/.276/.202. His slow start basically got two hitting coaches fired. He’s hitless in his last 24 at-bats.

I’m reminded of the rumor that popped up back when Lindor was a member of the Tribe, which was that Lindor was not  interested in playing for either New York team.

This rumor didn’t come from some dark catacomb of the Twittersphere, either. Long-time Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com writer authored the rumor. Pluto had heard that the west coast was of more interest to Lindor.

That said, Lindor signed with New York after being traded and it was his call to ink a 10-year pact, although he had 341 million reasons to get a deal done. Even if the rumor is true, it’s hard to say no to the kind of money that will impact multiple generations of your family.

Lindor’s season in New York will be one to watch, no matter which way it goes. If he struggles, the NY scribes will continue to pile on. If he succeeds, he’ll become even bigger, playing for the Mets in the Big Apple.