This Braves-Indians Trade Involving Francisco Lindor Could Actually Work

The Cleveland Indians, now second-class citizens in the AL Central after the rise of the Minnesota Twins, could be facing a full-on rebuild, as they are potentially looking to trade superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor this offseason.

Francisco Lindor Trade Rumors

While the Los Angeles Dodgers were snooping around the Lindor market around the trade deadline last year, the latest buzz suggests Cleveland will not trade Lindor unless they are blown away with the return package.

Francisco Lindor Contract

Lindor will make $16.7 million this season, but is eligible for arbitration once again in 2021. In 2022, at the age of 28, Lindor would become an unrestricted free agent.

In any potential trade for Lindor, shortstop Dansby Swanson, who hit .251 with 17 home runs and 65 RBIs, would likely go to Cleveland to fill the immediate hole they created at shortstop.

The two top Braves prospects are outfielders Christian Pache and Drew Waters, and one of them would have to go to the Indians to facilitate a trade. Pache has the better physical tools and potential, and frankly the Braves are unlikely to deal him for any players on the current trade market. Waters is gettable for a player of Lindor's quality.

Cleveland has a bit of thing with developing young pitching, and their next big find could be top Braves righty and No. 3 prospect Ian Anderson, who put up a 3.38 ERA last year. Because of this, there's a chance the Indians would prefer Anderson to Waters in hopes of enticing a greater overall prospect return. For the sake of this argument, we'll say Cleveland gets one of Waters or Anderson. Pache is off-limits.

If this return seems lite, it's due to the simple fact that MLB teams hoard prospects like gold. If Cleveland really does want to trade Lindor, a top-25 prospect in all of baseball, paired with a 25-year-old solid MLB shortstop in Swanson is likely the best they can get. Should Atlanta need to sweeten the deal, a prospect ranked near the 18-22 range in the Braves' system should do.

Lindor is a superstar that hit 32 home runs and stole 22 bases last year, and the Braves might need to overpay to bring him to Atlanta as they push for a World Series.