Fansided

Cleveland Indians ownership claims they could not build around Francisco Lindor

By David Hill |
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 30: Owner and CEO of the Cleveland Indians Paul Dolan prior to the Hall of Fame induction before the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field on July 30, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 30: Owner and CEO of the Cleveland Indians Paul Dolan prior to the Hall of Fame induction before the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field on July 30, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Even before he was traded to the Mets, it was clear that Francisco Lindor was going to be expensive to retain. The Cleveland Indians had begun initial conversations on an extension that went nowhere due to their offer. It was clear that, while ownership may have valued Lindor, they were not going to pay him anything close to what he could earn on the open market.

On Thursday, team owner Paul Dolan offered insight as to why that was the case. He claimed that the trade was necessary because the Indians could not afford to pay Lindor and build a team around him.

Cleveland Indians claims ring hollow

Such a claim seems laughable. The Indians had spent the offseason slashing payroll to laughable levels, trading away virtually anything that earned above the league minimum and declining even reasonably priced team options. While they did eventually sign some players in free agency, their payroll was cut from just over $102 million to begin the 2020 season to approximately $45 million this year.

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Dolan and his family, meanwhile, are worth $4.6 billion. That net worth makes them the fourth wealthiest owners in Major League Baseball. Yes, Cleveland may be a smaller market compared to New York or Los Angeles, but that does not matter when ownership actually has the financial resources to contend.

In this case, the Indians have those resources. They could have afforded Lindor while building a competitive roster around him, especially given how slow this offseason was for most of the top tier free agents. They just simply did not want to.

Yes, teams lost money due to the pandemic. And yes, there are questions about fan attendance and if stadiums will be able to return to capacity this season. Most teams cut payroll as well. But none of those teams tried to claim that they could not afford to build around one of the best players in the game.

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Cleveland Indians ownership is trying to claim that they could not afford to build around Francisco Lindor. Such claims are utterly laughable.

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