NY Mets: Catching up with all the pieces in the Carlos Carrasco, Francisco Lindor trade

New York Mets fans were already over the moon when new billionaire owner Steve Cohen took over in October 2020. Three months later, in January of 2021, the biggest wave under his new reign occurred when the team traded longtime, homegrown Met middle infielders, Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, and prospects, pitcher Josh Wolf and outfielder Isaiah Greene for perennial MVP candidate, shortstop Francisco Lindor and a career 3.77 ERA pitcher, Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco.

Immediately everybody was considering the trade a huge win for the Mets. The biggest pieces the Mets had given up were immediately replaced by a top-caliber player of the same position in Francisco Lindor. Furthermore, the Mets were now being considered to have one of the top starting pitching rotations in baseball with the addition of Carlos Carrasco.

The biggest question mark of the trade from the Mets perspective was whether Lindor would resign to be with the team past his then-current contract through the 2021 season. That was settled when Cohen offered him a 10-year deal to keep him with the team through the 2031 season, paying him a cheeky $1 million more than Fernando Tatis’s $340 million dollar contract.

This season, the New York Mets have held onto first place for months now with no sign of losing their spot atop the NL East.

Meanwhile, the Indians are fighting to stay above .500 and are seeing the Chicago White Sox run away with the AL Central.

With all that being said, and as we now approach the 2021 trade deadline, let’s check in on each new New York Mets and Cleveland Indians player and see how each has fared in the relatively short term.

Francisco Lindor

For whatever reason, be it trouble settling into a new team, city, and fanbase, or the added pressure of one of the richest contracts in sports, Lindor struggled mightily in the beginning of his first season with the New York Mets. He is currently on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique, and to this point in the season, hitting only .228, a number that has actually spiked in the recent past compared to how he opened the season at the plate. Frustratingly to Mets fans early on, it felt like Lindor would always find himself up at the plate in important RISP situations and fail to convert. Mets manager Luis Rojas has persisted in batting him in the top of the lineup and one couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him as he struggled to produce.

Positively, Lindor has managed to keep a fantastic attitude. It seems that despite his lack of performance on the field, his leadership ability has been a tremendous boost to the team, and the way he carries himself, even when struggling, has him worthy of being a  role model. Despite his early disappointments at the plate, Lindor has played a gold glove caliber shortstop and has actually been heating up at the dish of late. Before landing on the injured list, Lindor was hitting .348 with 7 RBIs in his last seven games. He is certainly trending upward, highlighted by a game in June where he produced 5 RBIs, including two home runs to provide the entirety of the Mets offense. In my opinion, it is truly too soon to judge Lindor’s career as a Met, and considering just how badly he wants to contribute and help bring a World Series title to Flushing, Mets fans should be grateful that he is signed on to be a Met for the next 10 years.

Carlos Carrasco

Fortunately for the New York Mets, Carlos Carrasco is signed for the next two seasons, through the year 2023. Unfortunately for the Amazins’, Carrasco hasn’t thrown an inning at Citi Field, or any other MLB ballpark this season. While running sprints to exercise during spring training this season, the always reliable Carrasco tore his right hamstring. What initially was a six to eight-week diagnosis, with an expected return date of April or May, has now been an injury that still has him sidelined as the month of August approaches. Luckily, the day may soon be here that we get to see Carrasco take the mound for the MLB Mets, who can use all the men they can get to fill out the injury-riddled starting pitching rotation. Just the other day, on July 25th, Carrasco “aced” his rehab assignment, throwing three scoreless innings for the Mets AAA Syracuse, striking out six batters, and walking none. While unfortunate that this injury ended up having about a three-month setback from the initial diagnosis, the Mets still managed to hold onto first place in his absence and maybe receiving a freshly rested arm to support the starting pitching rotation for the second half of the season and the playoffs (fingers crossed).