Who Are The Top Candidates To Land Francisco Lindor?

It appears the Francisco Lindor party may be over for the Indians. After giving his heart and soul to the city of Cleveland, it might be time to move on. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Cleveland Indians are in a bad financial situation, and they’re looking to move their All-Star shortstop.

Cleveland, strapped for money, intend to trade All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor by opening day, several rival teams have been informed. Lindor earned $17.5 million last season and is projected to earn about $21 million in salary arbitration in his final year before free agency

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 5, 2020

Any team would be lucky to have Lindor, but where makes the most sense?

Let’s start with the New York Mets. Steve Cohen just bought the Mets, which means they now have money. Arguably more than any other team. Cohen has made it clear that he intends to spend that money to build a winner in New York. What better way to do that than to go out and land one of the best players in the world? The Mets need a guy to build around, and who will mesh well with their stacked rotation. Lindor could be that guy, no doubt.

The Phillies would also make sense to me. The Phillies have been disappointing in recent years, but they have built an interesting core around Bryce harper and Aaron Nola. They’re missing one more piece. Lindor can turn the Phillies into a contender in the blink of an eye. They also have assets to boot. The Phillies didn’t hire Joe Girardi to miss the playoffs. like they did last year. Their window is now. They should enter the Lindor sweepstakes.

Another team people are tying to Lindor is the Los Angeles Angels. They’re in a similar situation as the Phillies. They believe in their team. The Angels also just fired general manager Billy Eppler because he wasn’t getting the job done. They have a ton of talent on their team. Between Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani, they have some great pieces. Adding Lindor to that lineup would make them downright filthy. However, they need pitching. They might prioritize a guy like Trevor Bauer before they take a look at Lindor.

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Wild Cards To Land Lindor

Whenever there’s a big prize, you cannot rule out the New York Yankees. After coming up short of their goals in recent years, they could be looking to make a big move. Lindor could be that move. Can you imagine having a double play combination of Lindor and Gleyber Torres. Pair that with the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Luke Voit and Gerrit Cole, and the Yankees are favorites to win the World Series next year.

It also seems like the Toronto Blue Jays could be looking to make a splash in the offseason. Why not make that splash Francisco Lindor? Pairing him with Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio would make the Blue Jays one of the more exciting teams in baseball.

As a Cubs fan, I also have to throw their hat in the ring. I know, I know, probably not gonna happen. However, Theo Epstein has said repeatedly that he’s going to be changing up the roster for next season. Maybe you can find a way to mix Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant in a trade for Lindor? Pairing Lindor with fellow Puerto Rican Javier Baez would be insane. Probably not in the works, but who knows.

Whoever gets Lindor will be a team contending for the 2021 World Series. It should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

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