Mets News: MLB.com suggests a Francisco Lindor for Jeff McNeil swap

The latest trade proposal going viral involving the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians includes Francisco Lindor going to the Big Apple in exchange for Jeff McNeil.

Will they or won’t they? It’s a topic of just about every sitcom between the two leads. It’s also what New York Mets are wondering when it comes to a trade for Francisco Lindor.

Everyone has a trade in their head that they believe can get it done. The latest making the rounds comes from David Adler of MLB.com. This deal would bring Lindor and catcher Austin Hedges from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for four players.

The names the Mets are giving up include young shortstop Andres Gimenez, 2020 first-round pick Pete Crow-Armstrong, and minor league pitcher Ryley Gilliam.

Oh, and one more guy. It would also require the Mets to trade Jeff McNeil.

McNeil has been on Cleveland’s radar for some time now. Back in December, when trades were being discussed between the Mets and Indians, it was his name that seemed to always come up. I can’t blame the Indians for wanting him so badly. McNeil is a perennial .300 hitter that can play multiple positions. Any team would be lucky to have him.

At first glance, this trade seems like a pretty favorable one for the Mets. They can spare Gimenez, especially if an extension with Lindor comes soon after. Crow-Armstrong is a few years away from having any big league impact and Gilliam is far from untouchable.

When McNeil gets added into the deal, I think that’s when Mets fans begin to panic.

Before he even played a single big league game, McNeil was a favorite in Flushing. His 2018 minor league season put him on everyone’s radar as the future second baseman of the club. Things didn’t work out as planned because of the presence of Robinson Cano. Instead, McNeil has spent the last two seasons trying to find a permanent position all while hitting the cover off the ball.

Realistically, this trade probably is close to what the Mets would need to surrender to land Lindor. However, I’m not so sure it would be quite enough. For as talented as McNeil is, I don’t think pairing him with these younger players would be enough to entice Cleveland to make a move.

It’s interesting to speculate about exactly what the Indians would look for in a trade for Lindor. They aren’t completely throwing in the towel. They also aren’t making the best effort possible to field a winning ball club.

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There has been nothing to indicate the Mets have any interest in trading McNeil. Fortunately, this latest trade proposal to make the rounds on social media is nothing more than some fun offseason speculation to make us wonder how much we’d be willing to give up for one of the top shortstops in baseball.