Indians: One player makes ESPN’s 2010s All-Decade Team

ESPN released All-Decade Teams going back to the 1900s and one Cleveland Indians player made the list for the 2010s team.

The Cleveland Indians have had some of the greatest to ever play the game pass through town since the franchise began at the start of the 20th century.

It is often hard to realize the greatest of all time when they are in uniform. Time has to pass for their efforts to truly be appreciated and put into a new light after the entire career is taken into account.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield took on a fun project of creating All-Decade Teams stretching back to the 1900s. His 2010s team features one Francisco Lindor at shortstop. The young star beat out the likes of Andrelton Simmons, Troy Tulowitzki, and Carlos Correa.

Lindor made his MLB debut in 2015 thanks to service time manipulation and became an everyday player in 2016. He is a four-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, and a two-time Silver Slugger. He has 130 career home runs as a shortstop and should reach the 1,000-hit mark in 2020.

Correa, who won the Rookie of the Year over Lindor in 2015, has made one All-Star Game and owns a WAR of 21. Lindor’s is at 28.6.

Tulowitzki would absolutely take this honor if he had stayed healthy. Unfortunately, he slowed down a bit after the 2014 season. Right when Lindor and Correa became the star shortstops in baseball.

Then there is Simmons, who has posted an astonishing 36.9 WAR since 2012. Yet he has never made an All-Star Game and has flown a bit under the radar for casual fans. His four Gold Gloves help explain his value.

Lists like this only make Indians fans more worried about potentially losing Lindor. He is one of the better players to ever wear an Indians uniform. If he continues at his current pace he will end up in the Hall of Fame. Yet based on what we all expect, when he does enter the Hall of Fame it won’t be as a member of the Indians.