Cleveland Indians: Tribe winning the Francisco Lindor trade

The Cleveland Indians are currently winning the Francisco Lindor trade

With 33 games completed in the 2021 campaign, the Cleveland Indians have reached the 20% mark for the season. At this point in the year we’re gaining a pretty solid grasp for the strengths and weaknesses of both the club and the players on the roster. With that comes the chance to start taking in all aspects of the Francisco Lindor trade.

A little over a month ago I wrote about how trading Lindor was the right decision by the Cleveland Indians. Given the landscape of the organization and Lindor’s asking price, a trade was the clear route to take. However, when the deal originally happened I also stated that I thought the Tribe lost a sell-low deal based on the market and what the Red Sox received the year prior for Mookie Betts. Now, early returns from both sides of the trade are saying otherwise.

The year is still young, but the initial showings from all players involved are indicating that the deal was much more even than most originally thought. In the end, it might even be Cleveland that is considered the winner. And in terms of immediate production, the Tribe are running away with the deal at this point in the season.

When talking about allocating resources, it’s hard to say that Cleveland isn’t winning. Lindor’s $34 million a year contract is more than half of Cleveland’s entire payroll on the books this season. However, even the product on the field is now starting to lean towards the Tribe.

With Carlos Carrasco out with an injury, we’ll go through the other five players that are playing this season from the deal, taking a look at how the Francisco Lindor trade is panning out for both the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians after 20% of the 2021 season.