Mets Put Lindor On Notice With Their ‘Untouchables’ List

The New York Mets sent a strong message when they announced that they’re “open for business” with the trade deadline approaching, and it wasn’t about the players that were on their list of untouchable players. Everyone knew that Juan Soto, Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing weren’t going anywhere, and adding Christian Scott wasn’t all that surprising given his recent run of strong starts. 

The message was sent to the players who weren’t included, specifically Francisco Lindor. A year ago Lindor would have been an almost automatic add to this list, but a lot has changed since then. 

The particulars are fairly well known at this point. First there was the verbal fracas in the clubhouse with second baseman Jeff McNeil last June, then there was the mediocre play on the field after that. 

From there Lindor had elbow surgery without letting the team know about it, and the injury problem was exacerbated when Lindor broke his hamate bone, then went out for an extended stretch with a serious calf injury. 

Then there are the focus issues. Lindor has always had brief moments where he’s made inexplicably bad or clueless plays, but he’s also played well enough to more than compensate for them. That’s not happening anymore, though, and the concentration lapses and sloppy plays have been steadily increasing, with the latest being his throwing error against the Phillies last night. 

The message to Lindor is clear at this point: This isn’t “your team” anymore. Lindor clearly enjoys the limelight and being the team spokesman, but that’s not going to fly given his recent play and where the Mets are in the standings. 

Lindor refused to comment when he was asked about his ability to veto a trade as a 10-5 player, but the message wasn’t about a trade, either. The Mets know it would be almost impossible to trade Lindor given the money he’s owed, his recent play and the way injuries have started to creep into the picture, and Lindor knows that, too. 

What the Mets want here is for Lindor to start playing up to the level of his contract. He’s currently hitting just .210, and Lindor is costing the Mets games defensively. The most egregious example of this happened against the Boston Red Sox right before the All-Star break, when Lindor let an easy double-play ball in the ninth inning dribble up his arms, and the result was a ugly 3-2 loss in ten innings. 

Lindor hasn’t talked about this yet, but we’ll hear his side of it very soon. He’s never been the silent type, and the gauntlet has officially been thrown down that he needs to produce on the field to be anything resembling a team leader.