Paul Articulates – All about Francisco Lindor

Here we are, deep in the midst of the hot stove season, and stories abound on so many players – Alonso, Diaz, Benge, McLain, Vientos, Polanco, and on and on.

There is one very big Mets impact player that we have not talked about, and that is Francisco Lindor.  The reason for this is that Lindor is positioned as the key component in the Mets core that anchors the team.  Lindor has performed well for the Mets and is expected to continue in that role for some time.  All the chatter has been about players moving in and out of the orbit around Francisco Lindor.

Let’s first discuss why he is at the center of Mets universe.  Since he came to the Mets in 2021 on the verge of free agency and was then signed to a 10-year, $341 million extension, Lindor has been the steady leader of the team.  Well, almost.  There was that shaky first year and then the “thumbs down” indiscretion urged on by rogue teammate Javy Baez that got Francisco off to a bad start with the NY fan base.  

But since then, he has been a model of maturity and consistency.  He has provided solid offensive and defensive numbers for the Mets every year, and those numbers do not begin to define his impact on the team.  He is a hard worker, always trying to improve his game.  He invites younger Mets players to winter workouts to train that work ethic in future teammates.  He is a leader on the field, always involved in discussions on defensive placement and providing the example of consistent focus with every play he makes.  He is also very involved in the community and charities, winning prestigious awards like the 2023 MLB Players Trust Philanthropist of the Year and the 2025 Roberto Clemente award.

Here is a look at the metrics for Lindor for his Mets tenure and his career:

Having just turned 32 years old, he is still in the prime years of performance so we can expect more from him in the next few years.  The numbers in the table above are not the best among shortstops in MLB, but they are very respectable, and as mentioned before they are only a piece of his contribution to the team. 

Lindor, known as “Mr. Smile”, openly enjoys the game and he projects a very mature, calm demeanor in all situations.  Sometimes it is almost too calm, as some might say it is impassionate, but in baseball the ability to limit emotional ups and downs leads to better consistency both at the plate and in the field.

Francisco Lindor’s contract runs through the 2031 season, paying him $32M annually and offering bonuses for things like all-star, MVP, and gold glove awards.  He is the type of player that a front office would build a team around, and it certainly appears that David Stearns is willing to do that here as he rebuilds a Mets team that exposed some fatal flaws last year.

In the upcoming season, I expect to see a better version of Lindor.  He will be teamed with Marcus Semien as a dynamic middle-infield combination that will assuredly make some highlight reels.  He and Semien also share common traits in work ethic and community involvement, so I expect that duo to hit it off immediately.  They also have the opportunity to train the next generation of middle-infielders, as there are some special prospects coming up behind them like Acuna, Williams, and Ewing who will benefit greatly from the example.

The one thing I would like to see Lindor do differently is to be more visibly vocal in his leadership of the team.  Other than a few rumored run-ins with Jeff McNeil we have not seen Lindor drive this team demonstratively towards success.  Particularly in last year’s slow motion decent into the terrain, the team needed to be violently shaken awake and that did not come from Francisco Lindor or from the even keeled manager Carlos Mendoza.

2026 is the year that Francisco Lindor must step up and carry this team to the next level of performance and success.  With a young procession of talent coming out of a winning farm system, the expectations must be set high to launch the team into a sustainable championship legacy.