The New York Mets are currently finalizing a deal to acquire SS Francisco Lindor and RHP Carlos Carrasco from the Cleveland Indians for SS Amed Rosario, INF Andrés Giménez and prospects RHP Josh Wolf (Mets #10) and OF Isaiah Greene (Mets #11).
Welcome to New York! 🍎 We’ve acquired Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. #LGMhttps://t.co/Bc0fICHUKn — New York Mets (@Mets) January 7, 2021
The New York Mets are deep into talks on a deal to acquire Francisco Lindor from the Cleveland Indians, sources tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 7, 2021
The Mets will also be getting Carlos Carrasco from the Indians in the Lindor deal, per source. — Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 7, 2021
BREAKING: the blockbuster you have all been waiting for: The Mets are finalizing a deal to acquire Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrsaco from the Indians, source confirms. Andrés Giménez and Josh Wolf, among others, are going back to Cleveland. — Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) January 7, 2021
Source: Mets OF prospect Isaiah Greene is also in the Lindor trade. 2nd round comp pick out of California HS last summer, Cleveland was on him in the draft as well. Advanced hit tool, CF fit. — Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) January 7, 2021
Sources telling me that Amed Rosario will also be heading from the @Mets to the @Indians in the Lindor deal. — Jonathan Mayo (@JonathanMayo) January 7, 2021
Cleveland sheds about $44 million off their payroll in the #Mets trade, which is what they sought to do all winter. — Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 7, 2021
The full Mets-Indians trade involves six players switching teams, per sources. Mets receive: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco Indians receive: Amed Rosario, Andrés Giménez, Josh Wolf, Isaiah Greene — Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) January 7, 2021
As far as I can tell, the Indians 2021 payroll (with benefits and arb estimates) will be under $50 million after this trade…https://t.co/lH6Hc3q6Lx — Eno Sarris (@enosarris) January 7, 2021
Fast Reactions:
This is one hell of a move to pull off under the beginnings of a new ownership in Flushing, NY. This will also definitely set the precedent for what the Steven Cohen-led New York Mets are going to look like across baseball. They’re trying to take claim as THE baseball team in New York City and they are trying to win a Championship.
Looking at what the Mets traded, this is an absolutely fantastic move. Amed Rosario- while a promising prospect in the top-10 a few years back- has not been the shortstop the Mets had been hoping for during his 4 seasons in the MLB. He has a weak offensive profile and has had poor shortstop defense, which is going to be a lot for the Indians to attempt to fix. Andres Gimenez had/has nowhere near the prospect value that Rosario was, but he did have a positive 2020 on both sides of the ball in his rookie season. He could be promising and is likely the highlight piece of the deal, but it’s a lot to rest on from one shortened season of play. That being said, I expect that these two will likely be the Indians 2B and SS respectively next season. I have not looked into either of the two traded prospects yet, but I will say that the Mets have a bottom 1/3 farm system and them trading their #10 and #11 guys is not a big haul.
For the Indians, they had one goal coming into the offseason and it was to shed salary and try and retool. It’s hard to say they didn’t accomplish this because this deal will likely save them about $44M in payroll for the 2021 season while providing them two MLB infielders. Looking at the current team, Eno Sarris is saying the WHOLE payroll will be under $50M. If the goal was to cut salary, it’s hard to say they didn’t make that happen. The return is interesting and will give them some MLB talent, but they didn’t address their OF concerns from 2020 of which I believed would be a big thing for them.
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Now: Could the Yankees have gotten Lindor?
100% yes. Heck, 1000% yes. If that was the return, 10000% yes. This framework is a move that could have been met easily.
This is likely not the same but this trade can be summed up into: A failed infield prospect (Miguel Andujar), a current MLB-ready talent (Clint Frazier), a decent pitching prospect (Yoendrys Gomez; Yankees #9), and a decent OF prospect (Kevin Alcantara; Yankees #13).
It’s hard not to say that the Yankees missed on another trade…
