Francisco Lindor: the Mets’ first step in pursuit of the World Series

Francisco Lindor may become the cornerstone the New York Mets needed to be crowned in the National League. But the positive is not only the arrival of the stellar Puerto Rican shortstop but at Citi Field they are convinced that this move is only the first of several that can come to strengthen the club.

Today, it is easy to say that all this has a name, a mastermind: Steve Cohen, new owner of the franchise since November 2020, and who made it clear from the beginning that under his command the story would be different. "I can promise you that we will act as an important market team," he said.

Cohen has been a fan of Mets games since 1963, so his feeling for the team is a guarantee of work. As if that were not enough, he said that the baseball people will make the decisions of the game and that the investment will go to the analysis department and the player development staff. Cohen bought the Wilpon and Katz families from the Mets Nov. 6 and vowed to increase spending.

In addition to Lindor, in this first transaction came Venezuelan starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, both from the Cleveland Indians, in exchange for infielders Amed Rosario, Andrés Giménez and two prospects, right-hander Josh Wolf and outfielder Isaiah Greene.

Franchise player?

While Lindor is a complete player who dominates all aspects of the game, it remains to be seen if he has a good leader. The Puerto Rican has won the Gold Glove twice and is one of only four shortstops in MLB history with at least three 30-homer seasons. As if that were not enough, he is in the best moment of his career with just 27 years.

ESPN Data assures that, since his debut in the MLB in 2015, the Puerto Rican shortstop ranks first among all of his position in statistics such as WAR (28.4), home runs (138) and extra-base hits. He is second in RBIs (411) and runs scored (508), fifth in OPS (.835) and slugging (.485), while hitting .285.

Lindor has earned four All-Star Game nominations, two Gold Gloves and two Silver Bats along with an appearance in the World Series in 2016 and a second place in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2015.

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Is Cleveland favored?

The Indians may no longer win or compete the same as in previous years for the AL Central, but they save a lot of their payroll for this upcoming season by letting go of Lindor ($ 19.5 million) and Carrasco ($ 12 million).

And it is that Cleveland ran out of options, and Lindor, had the luxury of rejecting numerous offers of long-term contracts due to the team's liquidity problems, betting on himself and aware that he could get more money from an important team one once became a free agent.

As for the players who received in the Ohio currency are Rosario, 25, who hit .268 with 32 homers and 148 RBIs in 403 games with the Mets between 2017 and 2020 and Giménez, 22, who he hit .263 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 49 games last year. The others mentioned belonging to minor leagues.

And what about Carrasco?

It's no small thing for the Mets to host Carrasco, 33, who overcame leukemia in 2019 to return that same season and become the American League Comeback of the Year. In addition, he was seventh on that circuit with a 2.91 ERA in 12 starts in 2020 and sixth with 82 strikeouts in 68.0 innings in that item.

The Venezuelan pitcher's mark is 88-73 with a 3.77 ERA and 1,305 strikeouts after 242 games during his 11-year career with Cleveland, not inconsiderable numbers.

Similarly, there is the case of Noah Syndergaard, the stellar pitcher who will remain on the squad after agreeing for $ 9.7 million and a year with New Yorkers to avoid arbitration. The right-hander hopes to return sooner rather than later from an operation on Tommy John.

Cohen hopes to turn around a franchise that hasn't won a World Series since 1986. For them, he surrounded himself with Brodie Van Wagenen as general manager, in addition to placing Sandy Alderson as president and Jared Porter as general manager.