Los Angeles Dodgers: Why a Francisco Lindor trade will never happen
By Jason Reed
1. Lindor is not even that big of an upgrade from Seager
Corey Seager was absolutely terrible in the National League Division Series, but don’t let that cloud your judgment of the value he brings to the Dodgers. In what many are considering a “down year’, Seager tied for the league-lead in doubles, hit 19 home runs, drove in 87 RBIs and hit .272. Imagine that being a down year for someone.
Lindor hit .284 with 32 home runs, 74 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. His offensive numbers, base stealing prowess and Gold Glove fielding are cited as reasons why he is an upgrade when at best, he is a slight upgrade if that.
Let’s get into some of the numbers.
Lindor had a 114 wRC+ in 2019, Seager had a 113. Seager’s career wRC+ is 128, Lindor’s is 119. Seager has a better career on-base percentage, by 15 points, and had the same OBP this season as Lindor.
Seager is one of three shortstops (alongside Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts) to have 65+ home runs, 240+ RBIs and a .350 OBP since 2016.
Seager is fourth in WAR among shortstops since 2016, Lindor is first. However, if they played the same amount of games, Seager would be only 0.9 WAR behind Lindor, and that is with a worse pace as Seager had a down season this year.
Heck, even though he is a switch-hitter, Lindor does not even bring as much balance as you would think to this lineup. He still struggles against southpaws, hitting .258 with a .775 OPS last year, opposed to Seager’s .240 and .703.
Yeah, it is better than Seager but is the gap between Seager and Lindor a lot smaller than people realize? Absolutely.