Christian Yelich, Brewers near hometown deal; will Francisco Lindor, Indians do same? Tribe Take
Updated: Mar. 05, 2020, 6:04 a.m. |
Published: Mar. 04, 2020, 8:42 p.m.
Indians shortstop Francisco LindorJoshua Gunter, cleveland.com
Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- We are going to find out if Francisco Lindor wants to stay in Cleveland as much as Christian Yelich wants to stay in Milwaukee.
Yelich and the Brewers are reportedly close to signing a nine-year extension for $215 million. Make no mistake, Yelich is giving the Brewers a big break. He has three years left, including a club option for 2022, on the seven-year, $49.57 million deal he signed with the Marlins before they traded him to Milwaukee in January of 2018.
Two years ago Yelich won the NL MVP for Milwaukee. He finished second last season and easily could have won it again if he didn't suffer a broken kneecap late in the year. He's an underpaid star under his current deal. He'll still be an underpaid star for conceivably the rest of his career under his new extension. But it's clear he wants to stay in Milwaukee.
It's also clear that if Yelich turned down the extension and played the next three years under his current deal, he would have hit the free agent market at 31. It is not good to be wandering the current free agent landscape at 31 no matter what your talent level.
Lindor is happy in Cleveland. But is he happy enough to sign a below-market deal? At Tribe Fest he was asked about a hometown discount. He responded by asking if Anthony Rendon gave the Nationals a hometown deal this winter.
Rendon, who helped the Nationals win the World Series with his clutch hitting and strong play at third base, signed a seven-year, $245 million deal with the Angels in December. The average annual value of Rendon's contract is $35 million. The AAV of Yelich's potential extension is $23.88 million.
While all these mega-contracts influence one another, Rendon offers a closer comparable than Yelich to what Lindor could be worth as a free agent after 2021. Rendon and Lindor are infielders, while Yelich plays right field for the Brewers.
Milwaukee's Christian Yelich.AP
Lindor, based on the fact that he plays a premium position, is a switch hitter, plays Gold Glove defense, hits like a cleanup hitter and runs like a leadoff hitter, is probably worth more than Rendon or Yelich. He'll also be 28, one year younger than Rendon, when he hits the open market.
If Lindor wants to be paid for his talent -- and why wouldn't he? -- he'd have to get close to $300 million to sign a nine or 10-year deal. Such a deal would be a millstone around the Indians' neck if the organization didn't adjust its payroll.
Owner Paul Dolan has cut the payroll by over $40 million over the last two years. The projected opening day payroll on March 26 will be an estimated $90 million.
When the Indians opened spring training in February, Chris Antonetti, the team's president of baseball operations, and Lindor met with the media. They said they'd love to make a deal that would keep Lindor in Cleveland for the rest of his career. They said the only thing stopping that from happening was money.
On Tuesday, Antonetti would not comment on what Yelich's extension may mean to negotiations with Lindor and his agent, David Meter. As for whether the negotiations were still active, as both sides said they were early in camp, Antonetti said, "Neither side has given up trying."
Lindor said there was an "early March"' deadline on the talks.
The only way Lindor stays in Cleveland for the bulk of his career is if he takes a discount. But should the Indians do everything possible to keep one great player, while weakening their ability to put a winning team on the field for lack of funds? Do they risk a Nolan Arenado-Rockies situation on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario?
Or do then stay lean and relevant by trading Lindor for the best package of players possible to continue a streak of seven straight winning seasons?
They have the better part of two years to figure this out. All possibilities are on the table except a 10-year, $300 million deal.
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