Diamond in the Rough: Amed Rosario Has Been Tribe's Bright Spot

When the Indians revealed what the Mets gave up to acquire Francisco Lindor, it felt quite underwhelming. I thought they received some long-term pieces that might work out in the big leagues, but I didn’t see them finding any short-term replacement at shortstop.

I was wrong about just about everything. Not only are some young prospects like Logan Allen blossoming in the minors, but the Indians might also have pulled off the steal of the century acquiring Amed Rosario.

Here are two slash lines, you decide which is better:

.284/.338/.741

.213/.313/.652

The top slash line is making $2.4 million this season, while the bottom is making $22 million and will be making $34 million next season.

If you didn’t figure it out yet, the top number is Amed Rosario and the bottom is Francisco Lindor. Rosario is having an objectively better year for an eleventh of the value. If any other prospect turns out to just be decent, the Indians completely ripped off the new Mets owner Steve Cohen.

Some opponents of the trade might bring up defensive metrics to help support Lindor. He has made significantly more plays out of zone, 62 to 25, but most other metrics don’t show Lindor completely dominatinating him in the field.

Rosario has only committed one more error than Lindor while at times playing a position he had never played before. Their RZR’s are only separated by .005 and Amed has a higher Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games this year.

The Indians have truly found a key piece to the top of their lineup. Rosario gets on base, is a menace on the base paths when he’s there, and is an above average short stop according to fangraphs. Rosario only has two more season under contract in Cleveland, but he might be someone that Dolan could re-sign now, and get a team friendly deal with.

Rosario is the most underrated shortstop in baseball, and his future contracts are going to show just how undervalued he truly is. But for now, hopefully he keeps pulling the Indians right into Wild Card contention.