After another early playoff exit on Wednesday, Francisco Lindor’s future with the Cleveland Indians is more uncertain than ever.
For the fourth time in five years, the Cleveland Indians came up short in the postseason. Other than the World Series run in 2016, these exits have generally been early in nature. Wednesday night was no different.
The New York Yankees swept Cleveland in two games in the Wild Card Series, providing Francisco Lindor with another disappointing finish and feeling of coming up short. Not to mention, this was the Indians’ eight-consecutive postseason loss.
With this latest early exit, the questions have swirled around Lindor’s future in Cleveland. Could this potentially have been his last playoff run in Cleveland?
His contract points to this being a real possibility. Lindor has one year of arbitration remaining in 2021. He hits unrestricted free agency in 2022 and undoubtedly will demand/be given a mega-deal.
After all, Lindor is one of the biggest stars in both Cleveland and all of baseball. Despite an unusually down year in 2020, Lindor is a career .285 hitter in six MLB seasons. A premier shortstop, the 26-year-old owns four All-Star Game appearances, two Gold Glove Awards, and two Silver Slugger awards.
Not Enough Resources to Keep Lindor in Small-Market Cleveland
One of the biggest narratives in MLB is the classification of small-market and big-market teams. Big-market teams are the ones with bigger payrolls and those teams less intimidated by spending money. The Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers immediately come to mind.
On the flip side, the MLB possesses a number of small-market teams. These teams rely on drafting, prospect development, and squeezing the most talent into smaller budgets. You can think of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals, to name a few.
Baseball aficionados will argue until the end of time about which of these methods provides the best blueprint for winning. It’s hard to argue against the pedigree of the Yankees and Dodgers, but the small-market Rays are the second-best team in baseball this year.
Regardless, this classification of small-market versus big-market leaves several ballclubs with a conundrum. Are we small-market, do we sell our assets, or should we cough up some money for young, loyal, superstar talents? The teams stuck in between.
The Cleveland Indians fit this mold. And despite a young superstar core with names like Lindor and José Ramírez, the Indians proved they are unwilling to spend.
Cleveland fans have endured a long history of this process. A young superstar talent, often drafted, approaches arbitration or unrestricted free agency with a big price tag. What follows? The Indians trade away this superstar for a crop of young prospects. Oftentimes, the superstar talent goes on to winning organizations and enjoys postseason success.
There was CC Sabathia in 2008. Cliff Lee in 2009. Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber in 2019. And most recently, Mike Clevinger at this year’s trade deadline.
It’s been up and down for Indians fans with 2016 as the aberration in this pattern. The Indians traded for closer Andrew Miller in 2016 ahead of their World Series run. Miller was the piece Cleveland needed for a deep October run, and they gave up some top prospects to the Yankees to get this done.
Yet, since that 2016 run came up short in seven games against the Chicago Cubs, the Indians reverted back to its small-market ways.
Lindor, a notoriously outspoken individual, has been frank with media about the uncertainty of his future with the Cleveland Indians.
Lindor said he'd love to say the team should spend more but "it's Dolan's money." Adds that President Chris Antonetti has proven he knows what he's doing.
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) October 1, 2020
There’s no question that the rest of MLB understands this narrative in Cleveland. And with Lindor approaching free agency in the next two years, his suitors will come calling.