The headlines will say “the Mets get an All-Star in Lindor” and he will be the focus, and he’s a big-name player for them and not completely past his star days like Robby Cano.
Lindor has been a great player for the Indians. Will he be better than Robby Alomar was for the Mets, sure, but he’s in decline, it may not be a big decline, but it’s started before last season and last season proved he’s in it.
You can say that Francisco Lindor is only 27 this year, fine, but he won’t hit 30 home runs a year for the Mets, Citi Field will see to that, and it’s a lot easier to hit home runs in Cleveland. The RBI totals and average have been dropping. Like all ballplayers, some columns will go up and others will go down from year to year, and in the field is a big upgrade today, Andres Gimenez can pick it and was able to show that from any position the Mets threw at him.
Sticking with Gimenez, who may be the Mets second-best prospect shortstop compared to Ronny Mauricio, but who’s to say he doesn’t play somewhere else in the infield? He’s 22, scored 22 runs in 49 games played, hit three homers, and stole nine bases. This ballplayer knows how to run the bases as well, he’s a smart player.
The loss of Amed Rosario is the cost of doing business. The shortstop position had the last bit of depth the Mets had in their farm system, and besides his speed, especially when running the bases, the amount of extra-base hits he gets is impressive. He had 52 in 2019. At 26, he’s been a durable, solid major leaguer.
Josh Wolf was picked in the second round by the Mets in 2019. He’s a lanky 6-3 pitcher who had 12 strikeouts in eight innings of rookie ball in 2019. Alderson said these prospects aren’t in their top 6 or 7, based on rankings, then how can he explain Gimenez playing well in the big leagues at the age of 22. Don’t believe that, sorry. I don’t know anything about Isiah Greene other than he was picked 69th overall in 2020.
Carlos Carrasco is a solid starting pitcher, and the Mets needed that. He’s also 33. There is an element of risk with him, and he’s under contract until 2022 with a team option for 2023. He is the key to the deal, in my opinion.
If this is a one-year deal, they gave up too much. If they sign Lindor to a deal, anything over four years would be bad, in my mind. This looks great on paper, and I’m sure a lot of fans will love this at face value, it’s exciting and the city will be buzzing for a few days, but let’s see how this works out even for this season. I’m personally cringing to see what Gimenez will be and Rosario adding a few more dingers based on the home field situation.
Steve Cohen is listening to his guys; Sandy Alderson is the guy here even though he isn’t the general manager. Alderson thinks Lindor will like New York, but fans don’t care about that. The question is, can he handle New York? Not all players have been able to do that. I don’t know how that will work out.
