![\"Francisco](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/francisco-lindor-new-york-mets.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The New York Mets<\/a> and president of baseball operations David Stearns are back at the drawing board after missing the playoffs for the second straight season. Stearns has to find a way to improve the team and get it back to the postseason, and that means making tough decisions.<\/p>\n Juan Soto<\/a> is the face of the Mets and isn\u2019t going anywhere, while Bo Bichette has to decide whether to opt into the second year of his contract or test the free-agent market again. Bichette will make $42 million next season, and there\u2019s no guarantee a team will give him that in free agency.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, there\u2019s Francisco Lindor<\/a>, and could the veteran infielder be a possible player that the team could listen to on offers? Lindor is in the middle of a 10-year contract that runs through the 2031 season.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Adam Steinmetz of Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> on SI floated Lindor\u2019s name as an expensive trade option for the team up north after they failed to make the playoffs. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the second half, Lindor tied for 7th in baseball with 16 HR, besting 40-home-run sluggers Kyle Schwarber, Junior Caminero, and Hunter Goodman,\u201d Steinmetz wrote in an Oct. 3 article<\/a>. \u201cHis full-season numbers were also hurt by a .242 BABIP, while his career average before this season was about 50 points higher. So why would the Mets trade him? Simple: money.<\/p>\n \u201cLindor will be 33 in 2027 and is still owed $185M. He is signed at $27M per season through 2031 and will then collect $5M each year of Uncle Steve\u2019s Monopoly money from 2032 to 2041, even if he never passes Go.\u201d<\/p>\n Francisco Lindor Is Familiar With Blue Jays\u2019 Front Office<\/p>\n Given that Lindor has a no-trade clause from the 2026 season to the 2031 season, the infielder controls his future. However, Steinmetz points out that the Blue Jays could be a trade destination that Lindor could give the green light to, since he\u2019s familiar with Toronto\u2019s front office. <\/p>\n \u201cLindor has a full no-trade clause and has said he wants to stay in New York,\u201d Steinmetz added in his article. \u201cLindor, though, is very familiar with the Blue Jays\u2019 President and CEO, Mark Shapiro, and General Manager, Ross Atkins, from their time together in Cleveland. <\/p>\n \u201cShapiro and Atkins were in Cleveland when the Indians drafted and developed Lindor before Chris Antonetti later traded him to the Mets. The Blue Jays would pay for Lindor\u2019s age-33-through-37 seasons, similar to the deal they signed with George Springer<\/a>. Lindor hit the ball harder and increased his bat speed from 2025 to 2026, though he sacrificed some contact to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Mets Urged to Stay Away From Tarik Skubal in Free Agency<\/p>\n Regarding the free agent market, the Mets are being urged to avoid pursuing the top player: Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>\u2018 Tarik Skubal<\/a>. Although the Mets need an ace, Underscore Media\u2019s Sal Licata believes New York should stay away from Skubal, since the team will still have significant holes on the roster.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this particular spot, do you think Tarik Skubal alone is the difference-maker for the Mets? I don\u2019t,\u201d Licata said in an Oct. 1 Underscore Media video on X<\/a>. \u201cI think they need more than one guy atop their rotation, and if you\u2019re telling me that there are going to be at least some kind of limitations, and forget the collective bargaining agreement, all that stuff, if there is going to be some kind of limitations. <\/p>\n \u201cThere always are; even Steve Cohen has his limit. It\u2019s stupid to have the luxury tax threshold and not be able to go out and balance the team out if you need to. You don\u2019t want to just go all in on three freaking players. It just doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images) The New York Mets and president of baseball operations David Stearns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203],"class_list":["post-821115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117380847212436575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}