The Mets and Francisco Lindor are looking to hammer out an extension before the season begins in two days and while they appear to be making progress, New York and its contract-year shortstop will have to make up significant ground in the next 48 hours to make that ambitious goal a reality.
Per multiple reports, the Mets have offered Lindor a generous sum of $325 million over 10 years, a deal that would obliterate David Wright’s franchise-record $138-million pact from 2012. However, Lindor and his camp are reportedly seeking a longer-term commitment, countering at 12 years/$385 million, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That figure would mark the second-largest contract in MLB history, trailing only the $426-million windfall Mike Trout netted in 2019. It would also give Lindor, who has yet to play a regular-season game for the Mets, a chance to finish his career in the Big Apple.
Contract length has long been a point of contention between players and MLB front offices with ownership usually reticent to commit to players long-term. That reluctance is warranted—deals of that length rarely age well, as evidenced by Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, who are being rewarded for their contributions five and 10 years ago though neither are particularly useful players at this stage in their careers. However, Lindor (27) is younger than both those players were when they signed their deals and is operating from a position of strength with deep-pocketed owner Steve Cohen committed to making the Mets relevant again after decades of playing second fiddle in New York to the more-celebrated Yankees.
Allowing Lindor to walk as a free agent next winter after trading so much to get him would represent a colossal failure on the part of Cohen and the Mets’ new front-office administration. For branding and visibility purposes, the Puerto Rican-born Lindor would obviously benefit from spending the prime of his career in New York, particularly if he’s able to transform the long-suffering Mets from afterthought status to perennial contenders in the NL East. From that perspective, both parties should be motivated to strike a deal, though with Opening Day fast approaching and the two sides still $60 million apart, that could prove challenging.
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