Cleveland Indians: Why there hasn’t been any Lindor extension talks

According to a recent report from Paul Hoynes, the Cleveland Indians have not initiated extension talks with superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor.

On the surface, Lindor is the ideal extension candidate. At 24 years old, he’s young, he’s talented, he plays a premium position, and the fans love him. So when people hear that the Indians haven’t tried to work out an extension with Lindor yet this spring, there’s one question on everyone’s minds.

Why not?

The Tribe has tried to work out an extension with Lindor before, and he turned down an offer reportedly worth $100 million. If Lindor has an MVP caliber season in 2018, the cost for any potential extension just went up even higher. So why not lock in his value now?

If any other comparable young shortstops, say Corey Seager, sign extensions before Lindor does, the market will be set and the Cleveland Indians will be pressured to match or beat that offer.

Related Story: Predicting the cost of a Lindor extension

So with the clock ticking on Lindor’s service time, why haven’t the Indians pursued an extension this spring? There are a few reasons.

Reason #1: Lindor is so cheap right now

Francisco Lindor is not yet eligible for arbitration. He’ll play the 2018 season for close to league minimum salary. Why pay him probably around $20 million when you can pay him $550k?

Lindor will enter arbitration next winter and that’s where his contract value will rise. As a two time All Star, a Gold Glove winner, a Silver Slugger, runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting, and two Top-10 MVP finishes, Lindor is going to get a massive raise in arbitration. And each successful year after that will cause his contract to go up higher and higher. The Indians will have very little control over that salary increase.

But the Cleveland Indians want that cost certainty over his contract. They have that for the 2018 season. So they would be wise to sign that extension before heading to an arbitration hearing with Lindor.

Reason #2: The Indians don’t have the payroll space

The Cleveland Indians are a small market team. That much was already known. With a payroll heading into the 2018 season projected for $135 million, this payroll is just about maxed out. That’s part of the reason they had to let Carlos Santana and Jay Bruce go in free agency because they didn’t have the money to give to them.

After this season, the Indians have just over $42 million coming off the books. Relievers Cody Allen and Andrew Miller are the two biggest free agents and the Indians figure to want to re-sign at least one of those two. Michael Brantley‘s $11.5 million salary no longer being there plays a huge part in finding the money to give to Lindor.

If they sign Lindor to an extension now, it would have to be extremely backloaded just so they can afford it in the first year or two. There’s no reason to do that now.

This is a very talented team that’s full of players deserving a lot of money. But the issue with being a small market team is that you can’t always pay the players the money they deserve. Rest assured, the Cleveland Indians will not let Francisco Lindor play out his prime in another team’s uniform. He’s not scheduled to reach free agency until after the 2021 season, giving the Tribe plenty of time to find the payroll space to sign Lindor.

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Extensions are rarely worked out during the season. Most players prefer to just focus on playing and that’s fine. So an extension won’t come this spring. But this fall after what’s hopefully going to be a World Series run, that’s when it makes the most sense for the Indians to work out an extension with Francisco Lindor