Francisco Lindor to stay in Cleveland?

Will Francisco Lindor remain with the Cleveland Indians? Recent comments from Chris Antonetti and Terry Francona certainly point in that direction.

It sounds like Francisco Lindor might stay. At least that is what Chris Antonetti is saying. When asked about his status Antonetti said the following. 

That’s a fairly strong statement about the status of the best player in franchise history. The team expects Francisco Lindor to be here when the season starts. Assumptions leading to this could have been made when the team announced that Lindor would be at Tribe Fest. 

Terry Francona commented on the trade rumors, saying that most of what you hear is “99% false”. Strong statement from Tito. Tito is a no B.S. type of person and will tell it like it is. If Francona says that the rumors were mostly false you better believe it. 

Could things change during the season? Of course. If Cleveland stumbles and finds themselves well out of contention due to another series of injuries or overall poor play these discussions will happen. The Indians realize the state of their franchise. They realize that paying one player a large salary is not sustainable for them if they want to have a competitive team.

Francisco Lindor is in his second year of arbitration and has one year remaining. If they are in position where moving him makes sense to build the team in the future it is understandable, it is just is not popular.