On September 27, as I write this, Francisco Lindor has a .228 average and even he admits it was far from what he expected.
Let's look at it a different way.
His is truly a tale of two seasons. 2 1/2 seasons, really.
He started out the season with the tremendous weight of a colossal, generously bestowed, brand-spanking-new contract, followed by a canceled opening series, and truly horrific early season weather. Can somebody say, "indoor baseball?"
To make the weight on shoulders worse, his entire team was offensively awful.
"Come on, Lindor! Be a superstar already! Carry the team!!!"
He sputtered. He got booed.
Fans said he smiled too much, that they did not like his hair. They were ticked at his contract. Had to pick on something. Plenty to pick on when the bat is icy cold..
His April and May were awful:
46 games, 4 HRs, 11 RBIs, .194.
Then came the rest of his season, which included missing 37 games due to rest (a little) and injury (a lot).
When he got hurt, he was Lindor-hot. When he returned, though, without rehab games to get his timing back, he was ice-cold again for a stretch.
Nevertheless, in his 72 games after May, he had a very decent 11 doubles, 14 HRs and 45 RBIs and hit .251. If not for his glacial return from injury, he probably would have hit .270 since June.
Turn those 72 games' stats into a normal 150 game season, and you get 23 doubles, 29 HRs, and 94 RBIs. More like Lindor numbers.
And I bet if you asked him, he'd tell you he should have hit better over those 72 games, too.
His contract? He asked for it, and wanted it, but there would have been no contract if Steve Cohen had not said yes, so I hold the contract against Lindor 0%. It is what it is.
I think in 2022, Lindor comes back with a vengeance.
It will be "vengeance amplified" if they smartly move the fences in 5-7 feet, as I repeatedly suggest, and set the team up for an offensive slugging party in 2022 at home. Hitting begets hitting. Slumping, on the other hand, begets slumping. We saw a lot of the latter "beget" in 2021.
Me, I think a .275 season with 30+ HRs and 100 RBIs is possible in 2022.
I like his smiles. I don't care about his hair color. I do care about Ws.
The fans will cheer him a lot, and perhaps the boo birds will get to take the season off, at least when it comes to the play in 2022 of Francisco Lindor. Especially if there are a lot of Mets' Ws.
A lot went wrong in 2021 for Lindor.
A lot may go right for him in 2022. A lot better go right.
Thoughts? I asked some Facebook folks for their thoughts on this. I got some really strong and varied comments.
12 comments:
Thank you Tom you made me feel better this morning and I'm all in for 30/100 or even close if there's a post season berth included.
Gary, I think the front office has to consider two approaches:
Spend like heck and go for it in 2022. Or trade Jake for uber-prospects (plural) and do a heavy rebuild for a powerhouse team in 2023/24 like the Astros and Blue Jays. I am open to either. And very open to the latter if they can do it right.
I agree but hope whatever they do they go all the way not half a**. Tom is Vientos a LFer or 3rd baseman defensively?
You bring up a good point that I too was considering: what to do about JDG… On one hand, he is one of ours. On the other hand, he could bring back substantial goods. What would the Dodgers do?
The Dodgers would keep him, like they did Kershaw. The Dodgers smoked their payroll up to $286MM to add pieces and retain what they had until the farm started to produce.
So, you keep JDG, you add a couple of free agents at four to five year deals, but it starts with proper scouting of your team.
Aaron Judge is a free agent and probably won’t want too much more than what Boras wants for Conforto. That’s another way of fixing your righty/lefty problem. Make Cano a coach… I just don’t see a 39 year old getting his timing back after being away for so long. Don’t waste the roster spot.
Let Stroman walk, but QO Syndergaard. That will give you Thor, JDG, Carrasco, Walker, Peterson, Megill, Yamamoto to start. Sign another “Rich Hill type”.
Let JD Davis be part of a solution at third base, especially if there’s no DH. Do not sell low on your assets. Let Baez walk and get a more contact oriented replacement that is steadier rather than flashy.
And please, GET A REAL FUCKING MANAGER THAT YOU CANNOT PUSH AROUND!
Gus it will sure be interesting. Add Oller into the starter mix.
Tom, where’s John?
John resigned and has moving to Rising Apple
Thank you Tom – that was very well written. So many people have been so quick to call for Lindor’s head, and although he has not lived up to very large expectations this year, I still feel like he can give the team tremendous value over the duration of his contract. Baseball is such a mental minefield that players can go into prolonged slumps or have off years despite having all the tools to do better. No one should reasonably expect Lindor to have 30+ HR and 100+RBI in every one of his 10 contract years – it is just disappointing that his first year started so miserably. To your point he has played much more like his potential later in the season but now people are seeing him through the lens of failure rather than valuing his contributions. He does a lot of things on the field and on the base paths that are getting overlooked. Francisco Lindor, much like the NY Mets needs a fresh start in 2022 – I’m not giving up on either.
I love the writers on this site, Mack Tom, Reese given them a bat and we would score more runs because their writing are full of hits.
But I cannot get on board with Lindor.
He should have come in and taken the town by storm.
He is a Puerto Rican born player who played in Cleveland and wanted to be in the Big apple where culturally he could enjoy his people and excel on the field. (I know I am a latino who loves the culture that exists in NY the greatest city in the world.)
but instead he failed in every avenue. If he failed in the field we could have remained behind him but he had issues with the Boos. he then had his best friend requested to be traded for and then the 2 of them started a thumbs' down movement.
then he states that cohen has enhough money to bring back his BFF, not conforto who is a home grown met, not stroman who had his best year, Baez so the 2 of them could coddle one another as they cash in on the fans good hard earn money.
No Lindor is our new Bobby Bonilla, our Bret Saberhagen...
Lindor makes me want to write again.
Eddie, good point - that is the other side of the Lindor picture, for sure. He has 10 years left, so he needs to stop any and all nonsense, or it will be a LONG ten years.
Paul, to Eddie’s point, Lindor lost a lot of benefit of the doubt this year. He NEEDS to mature, toughen up, and be a warrior. No complaints, no excuses.
There are those rare times when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and one of those times has come to the Mets, but for how long?
Lindor and Baez were All-Stars in their own right, but they seem to have propelled each other to greater heights.
They feed off and push each other, and both at bat and in the field they are a combo to watch, often reaching the level of spectacular. Since Baez joined the Mets, both of them have improved their games.
If Baez stays, which I strongly hope for, watching them playing together for full seasons brings memories of the days of "the Carloses", when watching the Mets was really fun and had Shea rocking.
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