I may be totally crazy, and my wife would probably be the first to confirm that, but if'n I were Antonelli, I would sign Ramirez to a long term deal and let Lindor play out his contract. I think Jose would be willing to sign, and despite the talent that Lindor has we will never be able to keep him in Cleveland. If we could keep Lindor it would be near $40 million a year, a third of our current payroll. Put on top of that the type of contracts needed for our pitching staff and we have a bunch of stiffs filling out the roster. I would love to have Frankie be a Jeter type here in Cleveland, but to just be good and not have a WS title hardly justifies breaking the bank.

Ramirez has about as long of a contract as the Indians probably want to give him right now.

I would sign Lindor, no matter the cost. Build around your best player. Lindor should start and end his career in Cleveland.

If we can keep on developing pitchers as effectively as we have in the past few years we could let the current crop go before they reach FA status and hope to get deals like the monster load Bauer delivered; then we could afford perhaps to pay Lindor 1/3 of our annual salary budget. I too would love to seal him for life, or a decade anyway,

but then again Rocchio gets some rave reviews that suggest he has the personality and baseball smarts that Frankie does and maybe could come somewhat close to being a decent replacement. But hard to imagine he's THAT good. Who would have guessed Lindor would develop into a 30 homer guy without first putting on a lot of weight and losing his defensive prowess.

So I say give Lindor $400 M for 10 years; keep investing wisely in the farm system; and keep making great trades; and we'll finally win a world series in my lifetime. Although I don't think that the WS win will happen until I'm gone; they won it all 3 years before I was born; and giving myself a healthy 92 year lifespan, they should win it 3 years after I've disappeared; so championship is scheduled for 2046. Hey that's just about exactly a century since the last one; so perhaps that means I'll live to 94 and they'll win it all in '48 again.

The only way Dolan signs Lindor is if he thinks the attendance will increase or if he's thinking about selling, the franchise value will go up.

Don't think either of those will happen.

Just hope they get good value back when they trade him.

recent trade experiences have been much better than the old Graig Nettles and Chris Chambliss deals when we took masses of mediocrity

When would you trade him? Is this winter better than next?

No idea when they will trade him but it's coming.

Antonetti hasn't called me yet but Lindor's value on the market is probably at its maximum this winter.

Only way they trade him is if Lindor says he does not want to be here !

He won't say that out loud but money talks and bullshit walks.

I would offer Lindor a very fair contract and give him 2 weeks to decide. If he turns it down, I would lay the groundwork for a trade this winter.

The Indians' chances of resigning him if he tests the market would be very low. No way would I let him walk without compensation. He should be worth than any player that we have ever traded including Bartolo.

I would agree except look at the article in Articles about Machado

https://www.camdenchat.com/2019/7/18/20 ... mer-bannon

Looking back on the Orioles Manny Machado trade return one year later ...

Conclusion
As much as Machado had meant to Orioles fans since the 2012 season, the fact was that his acquisition was going to be for a rental of about two-and-a-half months, plus any playoffs. The market that let the Yankees get Gleyber Torres for Aroldis Chapman in July 2016 didn’t really exist any more. Teams were holding top prospects closer.

Was there a better deal sitting out there for Duquette if he had either evaluated teams’ offered prospects better, or if he had been a more shrewd negotiator in recognizing who was really desperate to get Machado onto their team? We’re never going to know for sure. There were better-rated Dodgers prospects out there than Diaz, and by apparently prioritizing players whose 2018 stats exceeded their consensus prospect pedigree, other opportunities may have been missed.

Until some of these players start bearing fruit at the MLB level, it’s going to be hard not to wonder what else could have happened. There’s little doubt in retrospect that Machado ought to have been traded in July 2017 instead, when his value to other teams was greater due to his having more time before becoming a free agent.

There’s no point lamenting the decisions that led the O’s to where they are right now. Duquette has lost his job. It’s just too bad there’s such a mess for Elias to clean up. If the O’s are able to get some solid contributions from these players in the Machado deal, Elias will have that much less work to do to build the next good Orioles team. Fans are still waiting for one or more of the Machado prospects to take that big step forward.

This is what I learned from last offseason:

The Indians opened up shop last offseason on Bauer, Kluber etc - but they did not get an offer they felt was worth acting on. So it's one thing to open up shop but no way you move unless it is worth your while.

Obviously, later on, they got what they wanted for Bauer and moved on it.

I expect the same on Lindor (and any other player for that matter). You open up shop, weight the pros and cons, and then act accordingly. Heck, that's what ALL of us do, every day, all our lives.

For example, if Washington comes to us and says we'll give you Juan Soto for Lindor - Frankie is out the door so fast his head spins. Soto is still in the first year of his tenure and already is a stud.

Everyone has their price. All front offices are always open to being overwhelmed. And as time goes on, the price reduces but still has to be worth their while.

Debating on whether to trade someone is really a moot point. The reality is you trade someone if you get offered what you think is worth it, or even more! Like in Bauer's case.

IF you don't get what you want, you hold until you do (like they did). If you NEVER get what you feel is worth it, you hold your player until the end. It's completely situational.

All the "should we or shouldn't we" talk is the media needing something to talk about. With incredibly rare exceptions (say Trout, and the Angels just signed him and have a very wealthy owner) everyone is always on the market for the right price.

That said - if my team gets an offer the love for Lindor, although I would hate it, I would hope they would move on that offer because otherwise he walks for nothing. And the sooner the better, but that's just me.

And again, they won't unless they get what they want. They've proven that.

Nationals with Harper - no World Series. Nationals without Harper - 2 games away from a WS Title.

Just say'n

not a cause and effect