The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
SHORTENED SEASON UPS LINDOR’S TRADE VALUE
The trade deadline for Major League Baseball in 2020 is Aug. 31, just five weeks after the season delayed by the novel coronavirus and bickering between the players and owners is set to begin.
Games during the last week of July and all of August — and most likely beyond — are expected to be played without fans in the stands, which means the Indians’ best drawing card won’t be drawing anybody to Progressive Field.
No one is counting on Francisco Lindor to still be with the Indians in 2021 in his final season before he hits free agency, so unless the Indians are confident they can get to and win the World Series, they should trade him before the Aug. 31 deadline.
Soon after the 2019 season ended, I wrote a column suggesting the Indians should hold onto Lindor in 2020 to make one more World Series run with him. That was written long before COVID-19 changed the world and led to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred implementing a 60-game season to begin July 23.
Playing 60 instead of 162 games puts greater emphasis on each game. That makes the superstars that could be on the move soon more valuable to teams that are serious contenders than they might be in a normal season; a five-game losing streak in a truncated season could doom playoff chances.
Lindor certainly could be an instant difference-maker to any team that acquires him and do his part to prevent extended losing streaks. He was linked to trade rumors involving the Dodgers, Yankees, Reds, Padres and A’s before Manfred shut down the season in mid-March.
Indians president Chris Antonetti, as far back as November, consistently said Lindor would be the Indians’ 2020 opening-day shortstop. He held true to that message while listening to offers from the Dodgers and other teams as the offseason progressed.
A transaction freeze, which has been in place since the season was suspended March 12, will end at noon June 26.
Antonetti was the general manager and Mark Shapiro (now Blue Jays president) was the Indians president in 2014 when the Indians traded righthanded pitcher Vinnie Pestano to the Angels for minor-league pitcher Mike Clevinger.
Clevinger, who made his Indians debut in 2016, is 41-21 with the Tribe.
Pestano, a relief pitcher, pitched 9 2/3 innings with the Angels in 2014 and 11 2/3 innings with them in 2015 and is now out of baseball.
The Clevinger trade is just one example of how shrewd Antonetti is as a trader. He and current general manager Mike Chernoff keep the Indians relevant by winning most of the trades they make. They traded minor-league outfielders Conner Capel and Jhon Torres to the Cardinals on July 31, 2018, for minor-league outfielder Oscar Mercado. Now Mercado is the Indians starting center fielder.
Lindor is a four-time AllStar, the best player on the Indians and he has a smile that lights up downtown Cleveland. He wears a vacuum cleaner on his left hand when he is at shortstop.
But that won’t matter much if the Indians are out of the playoff race by mid-August.
Antonetti and Chernoff will have 66 days to get the best deal for Lindor once the freeze is lifted. Because of COVID-19, we might never get to see Lindor in person in an Indians uniform again.