Healthy Francisco Lindor ‘fully on board’ with Mets’ direction after season-long injury
PORT ST. LUCIE — Francisco Lindor considers outside perceptions of the Mets irrelevant.
A team that traded star players for prospects last summer and finished with 75 wins had little offseason sizzle and this week began spring training as something of a National League afterthought, but Lindor said Thursday that doesn’t factor into how he views this upcoming season.
The veteran shortstop has played the game long enough to understand the only perceptions that matter are the ones by the players in the clubhouse.
He cited the two teams that reached the World Series last season.
“I am sure nobody was expecting the Diamondbacks, but I am sure they were,” Lindor said. “Not too many people were expecting the Rangers, either, but I am sure they were. That’s kind of where everybody is in the same boat. It’s not about the expectations outside, it’s what you believe in what you think you can do.
“Everybody in the big leagues can play the game, it’s who can play it better? Who can play the game the right way day in and day out and who can be more consistent? At the end of the day it’s a chance to be in October, and once you get to October anything can happen.”
The Mets will still have a payroll in the $300 million neighborhood this season, but backed away from big-ticket items on the free-agent market after missing on Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed with the Dodgers.
Instead, the Mets filled their pitching staff with middle-of-the rotation options and lower-leverage bullpen arms.
A lineup that might have benefited from adding a proven bat was left untouched, as president of baseball operations David Stearns landed lower-cost defensive upgrades.
“Every year you climb the stairs,” said Lindor, whose $341 million contract runs through 2031. “For some people it might seem we’re going backwards, but I bought into the concept of a long-term deal. I am not here for one or two years. I keep on seeing that we are moving in the right direction. We have changed people along the way, but that is part of the process. I’m fully onboard. I respect what they are doing and I am here to win and I keep on seeing good things that we’re headed in the right direction.”
Lindor, 30, is looking to play without pain this season.
Last year he felt discomfort in his right elbow on a swing only a few days into spring training and soon had a good idea something was amiss that wouldn’t resolve itself.
After the Mets played their final game on Oct. 1, the shortstop received imaging that revealed a bone spur in the elbow. Surgery followed, along with an offseason recovery.
Lindor is glad he waited, even with the pain he experienced on swings and misses throughout the season.
“I just didn’t want to do an MRI or X-ray [during the season] because I knew it was something they weren’t going to let me play through,” Lindor said.
The season worked out just fine for Lindor, who became only the fourth Mets player (joining Darryl Strawberry, Howard Johnson and David Wright) to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in the same year. He appeared in 160 games.
“It’s part of being a professional athlete,” he said. “You have your aches and pains and you manage it.”
Overall, Lindor owned a .254/.336/.470 slash line with 31 homers, 98 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. He was a finalist for a Gold Glove award at shortstop, but finished behind Dansby Swanson in the NL balloting.
Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil are the focal points of a Mets lineup that finished 18th in MLB last season in scoring.
The Mets will need contributions from younger players, and to that end Lindor is pleased Brett Baty and Mark Vientos connected with him over the winter.
Lindor worked out with each player — Baty and Vientos are the primary third basemen in camp and Vientos also figures into the DH mix.
“They concentrated,” Lindor said. “They locked in on the little details of the things they had to improve on and I’m very excited to see what they are going to come out and do this year. This is a big year for them because we all know what they can do. They know what they can do. Now they have to do it day in and day out. I am excited for them.”
