Indians Really Can't Afford Francisco Lindor Long Term

Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor only has a couple more years left of club control before he reaches free agency. He's already considered one of the best players in the game, and he'll still be in the prime of his career at that point, setting up for a massive payday.

Unfortunately, Cleveland will have a hard time retaining him, even though he's the face of the franchise and is someone you build around. So, the club has to seriously consider trading him sooner rather than later, and there are logical reasons as to why that is.

Payroll Flexibility

It doesn't matter if you are a large market team or small market team, to succeed long term you need payroll flexibility. You just can't give all your top players big money and expect to compete, which is especially true for a bottom-third team in terms of payroll like the Indians.

On top of that, Cleveland's window to win is dwindling, meaning a rebuild of some sort is around the corner. So, does it make sense to give one player, albeit a star like Lindor, a ton of money that takes up a large portion of your payroll and handicaps your ability to make other moves?

That would be a resounding no.

Cleveland's History When it Comes to Free Agents

One way to understand the future is to look at the past. If you do that with the Indians, you know they don't have the resources to pony up and pay Lindor.

The largest contract the Indians have ever given out was to Edwin Encarnacion at three years, $60 million. That's not even close to what Lindor is worth, as he'll be in the ballpark of what Nolan Arenado received, which was eight years, $260 million.

It's always special to see a player spend his entire career with one franchise. However, unless Lindor wants to take a massive pay cut so they can continue to put talent around him, he will be out of Cleveland before he gets that mega contract.