The Cleveland Guardians continue to look like geniuses for trading Francisco Lindor

The Cleveland Guardians are surging while Francisco Lindor and the New York Mets struggle.

Tell me again how if you spend money, you win games in the Major Leagues. It’s my favorite joke. The top payroll in all of baseball, the New York Mets are 41-46. That’s not great, considering they have nearly four times the payroll the Guardians do, and a worse record than them as well. And while the whole organization has underperformed while throwing money at declining players, no deal on the team looks worse than that of Francisco Lindor; the former Cleveland Guardians mega-star.

Lindor, who is coming off of a great 5-5 outing on Thursday, is hitting just .233 on the year and has more strikeouts (78) than hits (76). Lindor isn’t making a league minimum. He isn’t making a modest salary. Lindor is 10th in the league in individual salary per season with $34 million, and he’s locked into that salary until 2031 when he’s 37 years old.

Lindor, who will be 30 in November, has not looked like his future Hall-of-Fame self since being dealt to New York. Before arriving, his stat line looked very good, with a slash of .285/.346/.488 and an OPS of .833. Since going to New York, his stat line has fallen; .246/.326/.435 and an OPS of .762.

There’s no way anyone can justify those numbers at his price. In fact, for $22 million per year, the Mets could have had more production with the Guardians’ current middle infield of Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez. Sure, the power isn’t the same, but they’re together more impactful than Lindor is any day, and provide nearly half the cost.

It’s almost like overpaying for superstars doesn’t work when you’re trying to win a championship.

The Cleveland Guardians should never be harrassed again for trading away an aging star

Guardians fans have a nasty habit of being reactionary when the team trades away a popular star. Whether it’s Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber, Mike Clevinger, or even Trevor Bauer, some fans lose their mine and cry. They become the team and curse the owners, but all of those trades came back positively for the Guardians.

All of those players have failed since leaving Cleveland. If the Guardians trade Shane Beiber next, good, they’ll likely pillage whatever team comes calling and set up the squad to compete for years to come. And while some fans will get mad at the claim of “competing”, they need to realize that being in the playoff race every year is in fact competing.

Yes, we’d all like the squad to win a World Series, but what I want more than anything is for the team to be constantly good. The MLB is an entertainment industry, and watching bad baseball is as unentertaining as it comes. As long as the Guardians continue to refresh their club, they’ll always be in the hunt and that, my friends, is the sign of a well ran team.

• Published on 07/07/2023 at 23:00 PM
• Last updated at 07/07/2023 at 23:00 PM