Francisco Lindor sounds in denial about the NY Mets trade deadline

The New York Mets have played surprisingly well lately despite dropping Friday’s game to the Miami Marlins. Recent wins in series over the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies at least show there’s some fight in this team. There is no denying it’s too little, too late.

After Friday’s loss, Lindor was asked a question about the team’s mentality. His answer was befuddling.

There’s a time to motivate while ignoring reality and a time to express the truth. Lindor can’t possibly think the Mets have any playoff chance with the deadline sale already underway. Only the Colorado Rockies have a worse record in the National League. If this is the messaging he and Marcus Semien are delivering, it’s difficult to take them seriously.

What Francsico Lindor should say about the Mets trade deadline instead

Rather than feed us an “anything is possible” that requires the Mets to win all 51 of their remaining games with the third-hardest schedule after the deletion of more players from the roster, Lindor should go with the standard “we should have played better” approach.

In 2023, the last time the Mets sold at the deadline, Mark Canha had the best words to describe the situation.

“We probably should have played better earlier if we wanted to be buyers instead of sellers.”

Sure, he set up differently. But 2023 was also much different. The Mets were a few yards closer to maybe doing nothing or even buying. Trades of Canha and more put them in a pit of despair instead as they played out the final two months of the season with large doses of Rafael Ortega and a month-long tease of what DJ Stewart could offer.

Lindor has been around long enough, even if not on the seller’s side when including his time in Cleveland, to realize the reality of the situation. Freddy Peralta is his teammate right now. He was scratched from the start Friday with a purpose.

I’d be curious to know exactly what Semien had to say to his teammates. This kind of overly positive messaging from Lindor has been a too-common theme at times even when there is no rope to pull themselves up. The Mets players don’t need to hang their head and play without purpose for the remainder of the season, but to deny the reality could mean that in moments when they actually need a reality check and it can matter in the standings, they could always be in denial.

An early theme of this Mets season was how much better they thought they were doing at times. It wasn’t exclusive to Carlos Mendoza who could find good at-bats in a shutout, blow-out loss. 

Lindor doesn’t need to be a Debbie Downer about the situation. Answers like this, even if it was coming courtesy of Semien more than him, make me doubt the messaging from the locker room leaders.

We can appreciate the never give up attitude. It shouldn't be a "anything can happen" approach, though. Present it as a "we expect to compete our best no matter what" because the "what" is Peralta won't be Lindor's teammate in a couple of days.

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