Mets Sticking To Offer To Francisco Lindor Bad Idea

Being honest and fair, the 10 year/$325 million offer to Francisco Lindor was absolutely offering the superstar a contract everyone should’ve expected him to accept. As such, it’s a fine place to draw a line in the sand.

If that was it, everyone could move forward and wait until after the 2021 season. However, that is just part of the story. The other part is how the Mets have handled this publicly.

The Mets obviously leaked their offer, and Lindor’s camp obviously leaked their 12 year/$385 million counter-offer. If reports are to be believed, both sides are firmly entrenched in their positions and are playing chicken in advance of Opening Day.

If a deal is going to get done, someone has to blink. If it’s Lindor, that may not be as good for the Mets as some may believe.

Yes, Lindor blinking and signing that record deal is great for the Mets. It keeps a superstar and future Hall of Famer on the team for a decade. However, that’s only part of the story.

If the Mets very publicly make Lindor blink, all of baseball will notice. They’ll notice it just like they noticed when George Springer became a Toronto Blue Jay.

The Mets will look to be rigid and ruthless in negotiations. It will not be seen as a team trying to get a player, but rather, as an organization who looks to win every deal.

Keep in mind, that’s not the same as being cheap like the Wilpons. Clearly, Cohen has shown an ability and willingness to spend. This is something different.

It’s an odd situation where you make a record offer, and you make the other side have to swallow his pride and accept it. That’s exactly what will happen if Lindor signs that deal.

He will be in a clubhouse overjoyed he’s staying. He will also be in a clubhouse with players looking for their own deals.

Certainly, Michael Conforto, Marcus Stroman, Noah Syndergaard, and their agents are watching this closely. At least with respect to Conforto and Syndergaard, the Mets have indicated there’s an interest in an extension.

How these players and their agents approach those negotiations will be very much impacted by the Lindor resolution. That’s not to say they won’t sign if the money isn’t right. Rather, it’ll be much more difficult to get there. That goes double where Scott Boras is involved.

The same will be true for future free agents. To a certain extent, it’s fair to say the Mets were shy in bidding wars, and they were not willing to go where they needed to go to get deals done.

Saying that with Lindor would be all the more alarming. It’s one thing for this to not get done. It’s another to leak offers and put public pressure to accept the proverbial “take it or leave it” offer.

Really, if the Mets just give an inch, perception changes. They will have finally gotten the big deal done. They suddenly seem more able to get deals done and be more creative and flexible. That has real value.

By first pitch on Opening Day, the Mets and Lindor either will or will not have a deal. If the Mets have a long term view, they will have Lindor for the next decade while just giving him that inch he needs to save face, and the inch the Mets need to give to help them with negotiations with their other star players and future free agents.

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