3 reasons why the Mets shouldn't entertain the idea of trading Francisco Lindor

2) Lindor's contract makes trading him completely impractical

You would think that saying Lindor is paid too much to be traded is precisely the reason he should be traded, but that's not how baseball works. Very few teams are willing to spend that kind of money on a single player, let alone acquire a contract like that in the middle of the season.

Kenny thinks that the Mets should trade Lindor because he's not worth the money, but he forgets a few things. First off, Steve Cohen doesn't need to save money. It sounds absurd to those of us that have mortgages to pay and kids to feed, but Cohen could probably find $341 million in his couch cushions. It's gross, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Secondly, let's say that the Mets could find someone to trade for Lindor. The deal would almost certainly play out in much the same way that last year's Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander trades did, where the Mets paid the bulk of both aging pitchers' salaries in order to get something of value in return. If that's the case, you're giving up an All-Star caliber player for what, a prospect or two? And you'd still have to pay at least a large chunk of the money owed to him.

We've seen multiple star players each of the last few offseasons remain unsigned all the way through the spring, and when they do finally sign, it's for much less than they were looking for. That's because most teams, with few exceptions, are willing to hand out such lavish contracts anymore, and honestly, it's for good reason. Most exorbitant long-term deals haven't looked so great in hindsight. Would the Mets give Lindor that kind of money if they could do it over? Probably not. But what's done is done, and trading Lindor away now would be trying to turn two wrongs into a right. He may not be worth over $250 million, but he's worth a heck of a lot more than whatever the Mets would get in return.

3) Any fantasy player could tell you that you don't sell low, and Lindor's value is cratered at the moment

Put aside the financial impact of trying to trade Lindor. Let's just look at it from a pure asset value standpoint. Lindor is hitting below the Mendoza Line through 30 games. Even if a team was willing to bet that he'd positively regress back to his career mean stats, would they be willing to give up anything of real value to take that chance? No way.

Lindor's slow start has ruined his value, and David Stearns is too smart to give him away for (figurative) pennies on the dollar. Instead, the smarter play is to trust that Lindor will find his way. This is a guy that won a Silver Slugger just last year, a guy that has received MVP votes each of the past two years. His talent didn't just magically vanish at the age of 30.

Lindor is one of the most durable players in the league. He's missed only three games in the last two seasons. His defense is still Gold Glove-caliber. He's shown signs of life since receiving that standing ovation, with 18 hits in his last 17 games, including a four-hit, two-homer explosion just a week ago in San Francisco.

To bring it back to Kenny and his half-baked, devil's advocate hot take, what I found hilarious is that as he tried to sell O'Dowd on the idea that the Mets should trade Lindor, a graphic ran on the right side of the screen with the 10 best shortstops in baseball. Lindor was No. 2 on that list, behind only reigning World Series MVP Corey Seager. If money is no object and there's only one guy in the league that's better, what are we even talking about?

Lindor is going to be fine, and the Mets are a lot better with him than without him, even when he's slumping. Let's just be grateful that after an 0-5 start, with Lindor and Brandon Nimmo struggling to find themselves at the plate, and with Kodai Senga and Francisco Alvarez on the shelf with injuries, the Mets have managed to scrap their way to a .500 record through 30 games. This is a dangerous thing to say as a Mets fan, but things are only going to get better from here.