Los Angeles Dodgers: Pros and cons of potential Francisco Lindor trade
By Jason Reed
Con: Corey Seager’s contract situation is easier to handle and will be cheaper
I know, I know, the last thing a sports fan should want is for the team to pinch pennies and run a team with a huge market like it has a small market. However, that does not mean that we should simply throw caution to the wind and pay everyone a lot of money; that is not a long-term business model and it shows year after year.
The contract aspect of this absolutely has an impact and the Dodgers are in a much better situation with negotiating a contract with Corey Seager then they would be with Francisco Lindor, even if Scott Boras is Seager’s agent.
Both have two more years of arbitration before becoming unrestricted free agents and in a perfect world, whoever has either shortstop would want to lock them down to an extension before that becomes the case.
It is easier to negotiate an extension with Seager as he is familiar with Los Angeles, is comfortable with the team and would likely want to stay around in the long-term if the Dodgers pay him what he wants.
With the Tommy John Surgery, Seager actually gets more value in his contract as it will be cheaper. The Dodgers could probably extend Seager with a seven-year, $150 million contract right now if they wanted.
Lindor is going to cost more. Lindor is going to be in the $35 million range per year and the same seven-year contract will cost almost $100 more at $245 million, which makes it harder to extend other young players on the Dodgers such as Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler.
Plus, there is no guarantee that Lindor even likes it in LA. He could get traded to LA, opt to play out his two years to get a big enough sample size to see if he really likes it and then will hit the open market, where his value instantly rises.
It is just hard to see Lindor signing a long-term contract with a team that just traded for him. Unless it is part of the trade outline, it is a huge risk for the Dodgers. LA could end up trading Seager and two top-15 prospects and end up losing Lindor after two years.
Even if they lose Seager, at least they would have the prospects to replace him.