Cleveland Indians: The Perfect Francisco Lindor Trade
By Jake Hasan
Cleveland Indians: The Perfect Francisco Lindor Trade
Why the Cardinals do it
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The Cardinals won the NL Central last year and then beat the Atlanta Braves for an NLCS berth. But now they have a Marcell Ozuna-sized hole in the outfield and you don’t get back to the NLCS with Dexter Fowler and Harrison Bader starting every day. That’s where Pederson comes in, an outfielder with a big left-handed bat who just posted a .876 OPS and launched 36 homers. He fortifies the lineup and outfield which allows more time to let top prospect Dylan Carlson marinate in the minors if he needs to “work on his defense.”
Corey Seager (.272/.335/.483) is a nice piece, who the Dodgers will be able to move given the acquisition of Lindor. Acquiring him allows the Cardinals to slide incumbent Paul DeJong to third base and relegate Matt Carpenter to more of a platoon role, which he is more suited for at this point in his career anyway. Tommy Edman would become the full-time second baseman given the absence of Wong.
It’s a lot to pay for the Cardinals, giving up two of their top 15 prospects along with Wong, but Seager and Pederson have been All-Stars already and are controllable for multiple years.
That being said though it puts the Cardinals firmly in the upper echelon of NL teams and keeps them cemented as contenders.
Next. Yankees: A more realistic trade package for Hader. dark
Of course, this is an ideal scenario where everyone gets what they want and everything is roses. Baseball is never that easy of course and the Padres are rumored to be a threat to the Dodgers plans but it’s nice to imagine. Regardless the Francisco Lindor saga is unlikely to end soon and there’s no doubt everyone in baseball will be watching.