A major piece in the trade market may finally be on the move.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Cleveland Indians have told teams that are interested in superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor to submit their final offers by this weekend so the front office can go through all of the offers on the table and choose a path to take moving forward.
While this talk does make it sound like Lindor is already out the door, this does not necessarily confirm that Lindor will be traded. This only confirms that while the Indians are willing to listen to any and all offers for their All-Star shortstop, they will make sure to do their due diligence before they pull the trigger on a trade if that is the way that they decide to go.
Lindor is under arbitration eligibility for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, after which he will become a free agent. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnati Reds have all been noted by Rosenthal to be interested in acquiring Lindor.
Of those three teams, the Dodgers and Padres would have the best package of prospects to offer, although the Reds would almost certainly be throwing in a few young players that just graduated out of minor-league eligibility, like infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel.
For the Dodgers, their Gavin Lux / Dustin May-led farm system is bar none across the MLB, but they have been very reluctant to include either in trade talks for a player. A player of the stature like Lindor does not come up on the trade block very often like this, so there should be no holding back in terms of certain prospects being available for a deal.
The Padres boasts a very solid farm system, led by lefty Mackenzie Gore, outfielder Taylor Trammel, and right-hander Luis Patino. Gore would easily be the best player that the Padres could offer from the minors, but similar to both Lux and May, the team would only use him in a deal for a superstar, just like Francisco Lindor.
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