Imagine having a couple of Hall of Famers on your team, perhaps even one of the best Shortstops in MLB History. That is always a good thing. However, the Cleveland Indians somehow managed to make that a bad thing. Instead of valuing a young superstar, in fear of not retaining Francisco Lindor in free agency, the Indians stupidly traded their future Hall of Famer away.
The Lindor Trade Was One of the Worst in MLB History
The Cleveland Indians Receive: Andres Gimenez, Amed Rosario, Josh Wolf, Isiah Greene
When the Indians traded Lindor away, the hope for the now Cleveland Guardians was for a large number of good young players. Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario were two players who were young and had big ceilings. The hope for Cleveland with Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene was to acquire a few good players who could have an impact later on in Cleveland. Such an idea is definitely not uncommon when it comes to trading superstars.
However, as time has moved along, both Wolf and Greene remain in Single-A, while Gimenez and Rosario don’t even play for the Guardians anymore. Gimenez became an offensively productive player, but after a mediocre 2024, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays and remains on the IL. Rosario meanwhile was also relatively productive for Cleveland for two seasons before being traded away. Today, there remains no players from the Lindor trade who are above the Single-A level in Cleveland. In other words, the Indians got nothing.
The New York Mets Receive: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco
The Mets acquired a great player in Lindor while also securing an ace in Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco would only go on to provide one good season for the Mets before leaving New York. However, for Lindor, it was a different story. After a down 2020, Lindor followed up that year with another down year in 2021. In 2022, however, Lindor provided a 107-RBI season, the first time Lindor had a 100-RBI season in his career.
In 2023, Lindor earned his first-ever 30/30 season. In 2024, Lindor nearly got another 30/30 season (would have been the first time ever for a shortstop), but was even better, finishing second in MVP voting. In New York, Lindor has so hit 120 home runs in just over four seasons, averaging about 30 homers per full season with plenty of steals, good defense, and RBI’s. In other words, the Guardians gave up a Hall of Famer for almost nothing.
Trading Lindor Was Okay, But for What They Got, It Was NOT
Everyone likely knew Lindor was worth a good sum of money. Being a small market team, the Indians likely knew that they couldn’t resign Lindor. Trading Lindor was likely a smart idea since such a thing was evident. However, it begins to get ugly when the trade is really bad.
The Indians traded their best player (Sorry, Lindor over Ramirez), and one of their best pitchers at the time for nothing at all. At the end of the day, the trade is just about as stupid as you can imagine. And, in addition to this, despite claims about players like Bobby Witt Jr. being the best shortstop in the league, it seems to me that there is no SS more consistent than Lindor.
The Indians didn’t even try to get a massive return, as many other teams likely would have been able to give Cleveland an even better trade. If the Cleveland Indians didn’t trade their superstar shortstop, perhaps in free agency Lindor would left and Cleveland would never have got anything out of Lindor. However, for what the Indians got, it is probably pretty easy to see why this trade was something that was risky. This trade will sting for a long time for the Guardians.
Main Image: Â Peter G. Aiken
