Re-grading the Guardians' franchise-altering Francisco Lindor trade 5 years later

As spring training approaches, the Guardians will enter the year without a clear cut answer at shortstop. While Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Arias have shown flashes over the past couple seasons, neither of them have done much to show they deserve to be in the lineup every day.

The biggest reason why the middle infield has been such a revolving door in recent years is due to Cleveland's decision to trade Francisco Lindor to the Mets ahead of the 2021 season.

And, with more five years removed from that deal, we figured there was no better time than the present to break out the red ink and re-grade how the Guardians did in the franchise-altering deal.

Trade details

Mets receive: SS Francisco Lindor and RHP Carlos Carrasco
Guardians receive: SS Amed Rosario, SS Andrés Giménez, RHP Josh Wolf and OF Isaiah Greene

The Cleveland Guardians' trade of Francisco Lindor to the Mets hasn't aged well at all.

New York Mets

Let's start with the headliner.

Simply put, Lindor has been everything the Mets needed and more. Lindor has been worth 27.3 bWAR throughout his time in Queens, and has hit 141 home runs and stolen 117 bases to go along with a slashline of .261/.338/.462.

He's been even better after a rough first season with the Mets, as he's had an OPS. of 829 and an OPS+ of 129 over the past four seasons.

The Mets also locked him into their long-term core by signing him to a 10-year, $341 million deal before he ever played an inning for them. While the deal will run through Lindor's age-38 season, his production has made the deal look like a steal.

Carrasco's time with the Mets was one to forget, however. The veteran righty failed to replicate his success he had in Cleveland and posted a 5.21 ERA in 295 2/3 innings across three injury-riddled seasons. 

Carrasco ending up returning to the Guardians in 2024 but was cut halfway through the season after some struggles. He's currently signed to a minor league deal with the Braves.

Mets’ Grade: A+ 

Superstar shortstops like Lindor don’t grow on trees, and the Mets got one for fairly cheap. The extension made this grade a no-brainer, and it remains one of the best trades in Mets history. 

Cleveland Guardians

At the time of this deal, it looked like Rosario was going to be the main piece considering he already had four moderately successful MLB seasons under his belt with the Mets.

While he showed a bit in flashes for the Guardians, he posted a .278/.314/.397 with 25 home runs in his two-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland.

That said, he never seemed to truly fit into Cleveland's roster picture and was eventually traded to the Dodgers at the deadline in 2023 in exchange for the ghost of Noah Syndergaard. 

Syndergaard posted a 5.40 ERA for the Guardians and was eventually designted for assignment.

Giménez ended up becoming the most impactful player the Guardians received in this deal, even if he's become a bit of a polarizing player for Guardians fans.

After a rough first season with Cleveland, Giménez blossomed into an All-Star in 2022, which led to the Guardians rewarding him with a seven-year, $106.5 million extension.

That ended up being the high-water mark for his Guardians career, as he fell back to earth in 2023 and '24. Giménez hit just .252 across 305 games in those two seasons, which was good for an OPS+ of 89.

With his contract looking more and more like a negative asset, the Guardians decided to ship him and Nick Sandlin to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell. 

The Guardians then flipped Horwitz to the Pirates in exchange for Josh Hartle, Michael Kennedy, and Luis Ortiz. 

That initally looked like a shrewd move thanks to Ortiz's solid start to the 2025 season, but he was placed on paid leave midway through the season due to his involvement in a gambling scheme. He's likely thrown the last pitch in his MLB career.

Mitchell, Kennedy, and Hartle could become key pieces down the line, but they're all at least two years away from helping the Guardians' big league club.

Wolf and Greene were both released by the Guardians before ever playing in MLB. 

Guardians' Grade: D

There's no way around it: Guardians traded a future Hall of Fame shortstop for a bunch of players who aren't on their roster anymore.

While Giménez and Rosario helped fuel the team's postseason run in 2022, neither of them turned into the long-term pieces the Guardains were expecting them to be.

The verdict is still out on Hartle becoming a big league contributor for the Guardians down the line, but it's clear Guardians failed to capitalize on value for their star shortstop. 

That bitter reality leaves Guardians fans with one of the biggest hypotheticals in recent Guardians history: What if Lindor had been able to sign an extension in Cleveland?