Mets acquire four-time All-Star Lindor in blockbuster
Francisco Lindor is moving to a new city and team that is willing to meet his salary demands.
The four-time Cleveland All-Star shortstop — one of baseball’s best all-around players — was traded Thursday by the Indians along with pitcher Carlos Carrasco to the New York Mets, who have a new owner willing to spend at baseball’s highest levels.
“They did not come cheaply,” Mets president Sandy Alderson said. “What we’re trying to do is create a new reality rather than deal with perception.”
The cash-strapped Indians sent Lindor and Carrasco to the Mets for infielders Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, right-hander Josh Wolf and outfielder Isaiah Greene — a move Cleveland hopes will keep it competitive and capable of ending baseball’s longest World Series title drought.
Dealing Lindor, who is eligible for free agency after the 2021 season, was inevitable for the midmarket Indians, who are unable to compete financially with MLB’s big spenders and dropped roughly $30 million in dealing two prominent players and fan favorites.
“These are people we care about, not just players, and guys that loved the organization and have great memories here,” said Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, who said he was in tears when he spoke with Lindor and Carrasco. “Trades like this are really tough. But it’s the right thing to do.”
For the Mets, landing Lindor is a home run and another major move by hedge fund owner Steven Cohen, who bought the team on Nov. 6 from the Wilpon and Katz families and has pledged to increase spending.
One of his next big-ticket items figures to be signing Lindor to a long-term contract, something the Indians couldn’t do.
The 27-year- old Lindor can affect the game with his bat, glove and legs. A two-time Gold Glove
winner, he is a career .285 hitter and averaged 29 homers, 86 RBIs and 21 steals in his six major league seasons — all with the Indians, who drafted him in 2011 and developed him.
He also has been the face of the Indians’ franchise, with an infectious smile and joy for playing that has made him one of Cleveland’s most popular athletes. But he’s gone now, leaving the Indians without their best player and the team’s fans grumbling about owner Paul Dolan.
Carrasco is one of the game’s best comeback stories, overcoming leukemia to become one of the AL’s steadiest starters. The 33-year- old has a 88-73 career record with a 3.73 ERA.
With an abundance of young pitchers, including Cy Young
Award winner Shane Bieber, the Indians were in position to move a player of Carrasco’s caliber.
He can be replaced. Finding someone to fill Lindor’s shoes will be much tougher.
Cleveland had run out of options. Lindor has turned down numerous long-term contract offers from the Indians, betting on himself and knowing he could get more money from a major-market team when he becomes a free agent.
He is signed for only another season, so the Mets will have to get to work quickly on locking him up for the long term.
“We’ve have one conversation with him and no conversations with his agent,” Alderson said. “We acquired Francisco because of his present ability and the possibility
that he could be a Met long-term. There’s no guarantee of that. It’s something that we will approach, you know, in the next few weeks.”
Cohen is hoping to turn around a franchise that has not won a World Series since 1986.
JAPAN ACE SUGANO MISSES DEADLINE >> Japanese star pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano failed to agree to a contract with a major league team by Thursday’s deadline.
A right-hander who turned 31 on Oct. 11, Sugano had been posted by the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Central League on Dec. 8.
Sugano was 14-2 with a 1.97 ERA and three shutouts in 20 games last season, striking out 131 and walking 25 in 137 1/3 innings while allowing 97 hits. He is 101- 49 with a 2.32 ERA over eight seasons in Japan.