Amed Rosario Is Making Francisco Lindor Trade Worthwhile

January 7th 2021. 

A day that will live on forever in the minds of many Tribe fans of my generation as the day that the Indians traded Francisco Lindor. A very sad day and yet as we sit here approaching mid-August it might be time to admit to ourselves that although the Cleveland front office made a very unpopular decision, it has turned out to be the right one. 

In return for Lindor the team received Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, among others and to this point it is indisputable that Rosario has made a bigger impact in Cleveland than Frankie has in Queens.

Lindor, who is set to make $21 million dollars this year, is hitting .228 with 11 HR and 36 RBI and has spent essentially the last month on the IL. 

Lindor has been so bad in fact even before the injury that he has seem himself benched at points during the season by the Mets manager. On top of that the Mets were so desperate to get any type of offensive production they went out and brought in another overrated shortstop in Javy Baez. So to be clear the Mets have now given up 5 prospects for two shortstops both hitting under .250 and Cookie Carrasco who had not pitched all year until the end of July due to injury.

The Indians Haul: Amed Rosario

The Indians meanwhile have gotten rid of Lindor, who seemingly has just forgotten how to hit, and have gotten rid of the 21 million he was due this year. They're also not going to have to pay him 34 million a year for the next decade. Honestly, for as cheap as the Dolans are, this trade worked out as best as it could when you are moving on from the face of your franchise. 

One of the biggest reasons fans have moved on for the most part from being upset about Lindor being traded is how well Amed Rosario has played. 

I am still not really sure why they were screwing around with him in CF to start the year but since becoming the Tribe’s primary shortstop Rosario has been pretty consistent offensively. Rosario’s slashline is .279/.321/.396 and over the last month it has been even better at .310/.333/.437. He also leads the Major’s with 4 four-hit performances and has come up with clutch hit after clutch hit. 

One of the biggest factors as well is that Rosario is under team control for two more years after this, while Lindor likely would have walked away as a free agent at the end of this year anyways. 

Rosario is never going to be the power hitter that Lindor was in Cleveland but he makes up for it with his speed and his ability to put the ball in play. Maybe one day Frankie will stop looking for the home run and get back to that. And then, and only then, will he live up to the $341 million the Mets are paying him. 

In the not so wise words of Paul Dolan “Enjoy him!"