Red Sox: Ranking the top five bargain contracts in Major League Baseball
By Jimmy Longo
Francisco Lindor
The Indians’ best and most exciting player to grace the shortstop position since the days of Omar Vizquel, Cleveland fans sure do get a quality return for the little amount of money they pay Francisco Lindor to reign the shortstop position.
In 2017 the young Puerto Rican will make only $579,300. Lindor was an All-Star reserve for the AL last season, finishing the year hitting .301 with 15 home runs, while winning the Gold Glove at shortstop and winning the Platinum Glove, given to the best defender in the entire American League.
Lindor was second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2015.
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He also finished just outside the top twenty in WAR leaders for the MLB, finishing just behind Anthony Rizzo with a WAR rating of 5.72
Above all, the bargain of Lindor’s deal is really invaluable in the young leadership the shortstop provides. The spark in the middle of the infield and the ability to have the flare and fun while playing the game was infectious for his Indians teammates in the 2016 postseason where they entered as complete underdogs in each series before taking the Cubs to seven games.
In Cleveland being a small-market team, you’d have to hope that Lindor be willing to take a homegrown discount somewhere down the line, but if not, Lindor is due to cash on a $100 million-plus contract in the coming years. Good on the Indians side was their willingness to give Edwin Encarnacion big money for little time. Odds are they’d be more than willing to through the necessary money at Lindor.