NY Yankees: Adding Francisco Lindor would be a bad move
Ever since the New York Yankees season has ended, they have been tied to rumors with Francisco Lindor. But is getting Lindor a good idea?
The New York Yankees season ended with a walk-off home run by the Houston Astros Jose Altuve in game six of the ALCS. Since then quite a bit has happened in the Bronx and the Bombers have been tied to rumors with several players, one of which is Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor.
Lindor is arguably the best defensive shortstop Major League Baseball has seen in years. An argument could be made that right now he is the best shortstop in the league as well. So if the Yankees are able to get a player like this it should be a no-brainer, right? Wrong.
Getting Lindor would make absolutely no sense for the New York Yankees. Signing him would be a gross waste of money. Lindor would be an upgrade at shortstop, but not as much as one might think. For the price, I don’t believe he is worth it.
Over the next couple of years, the Yankees will be forced to pay several players including, but not limited to, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, and Gleyber Torres. Each of these four players is currently getting paid next to nothing. The Yankees will need to fork over quite a bit when each of their respective contracts is up.
So with that on the horizon, why would GM Brian Cashman add Lindor and pay him over $200M? Especially when he’s going to have to pay each of these players money in that ballpark as well?
The New York Yankees current shortstop, Didi Gregorius, is a free agent heading into the 2020 season. Re-signing him back would be far cheaper and a much better use of their money than Lindor would be. The Bronx Bombers biggest hole from the 2019 season was their starting pitching.
If that’s the case, and they have a chance to sign a dominant pitcher such as Gerrit Cole, it’s ridiculous to spend huge money on a shortstop who wouldn’t be THAT much of an upgrade at the position. Not only that but the Yankees would also have to give something up to get Lindor seeing he is not a free agent. I simply do not see how that is a better option than bringing Gregorius back.
Here are Didi Gregorius’ stats in his time with the Yankees (five years):
.269 batting average, 360 RBIs, 97 home runs and a .313 OBP. Those are some good stats, so I don’t understand how you could justify having to pay Lindor, three times what you would they would pay Gregorius.
Next. New York Yankees: Didi Gregorius is a keeper for 2020. dark
Overall, I think it would be great to add on Francisco Lindor and if adding him was the difference between getting to the postseason and winning a World Series, he might be worth it. But at the end of the day isn’t a huge upgrade and the money spent on him could be put to better use.