By: Tom Greer
November is here, Halloween has passed, things shift from horror movies and haunted houses… directly into ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS! Now, with the New York Mets sale being finalized on Friday November 6th - there’s going to be a new Santa Clause this holiday season! His name isn’t Kris Kringle, and no it's also not Scott Calvin (for my fellow 90’s kids who grew up with the Tim Allen Santa Clause). This year, the one supplying tidings of comfort, joy and good-will toward man... is the great Steven A. Cohen aka Uncle Stevie; or as he will now be referred to for the rest of the blog “Santa Stevie”.
So, Santa Stevie reached out to the Mets faithful and asked for the lists of all the things that we may want for Christmas. Now it’s a seemingly long list... we’ve all heard the names: Trevor Baur, JT Realmuto, George Springer to be perfectly paired with the freshly signed Marcus Stroman. Excitedly - there is a new name to pop into the conversation….. AND HIS NAME IS FRANCISCO LINDOR!!
Now I know you're probably thinking, “Tom, the Mets need a catcher, starting pitcher and absolutely a center fielder… why should they get a shortstop? Especially one you have to trade for? The answer is pretty simple... a team won't get many opportunities to potentially trade then sign the best player that they’ve ever had in the position. Francisco Lindor will be 27 years old at the start of the season, with four All-Star appearances, 2 Gold Gloves, a Platinum Glove and 2 Silver Slugger Awards. He’s a career .285 hitter and if ya like WAR... his is 28.4. So in layman's terms, the best shortstop in the game today.
With the Indians looking to trade one of the best players in the game before next season starts, I think that this has the opportunity to be what the Mike Piazza trade was to the Mets 22 years ago. A trade that adds even more legitimacy to what was already a Mets lineup budding with talent, and clearing up any questions the Mets may have had defensively up the middle. “What about Amed Rosario or Andres Jimenez?” While both of them are pretty promising young players, neither of them are even on the same level as Francisco Lindor. Maybe one day Rosario
and Jimenez are dueling for the spot as best shortstops in the game; but currently that title belongs to Francisco Lindor. Now, like I said... Santa Stevie has a long list to look over. Sure bring in Trevor Bauer, George Springer, and if JT Realmuto wants to stay in Philly that’s fine save yourself from spending 200 million and go sign James Mccann from the White Sox. However, the chance to bring in a generational talent - the opportunity to bring in a player that would arguably be the BEST they’ve ever had at the position... doesn’t come around often. As there will possibly be a lot of suitors calling the Indians with offers, the cross town Yankees potentially being one of them. This is Santa Stevie’s chance to make his mark on the league. His chance to prove that when there's an opportunity to get the best player available, the Mets won’t walk away... they’ll dive in head first!