Revisiting the Francisco Lindor Trade: Five Years Later, the Guardians Are Still Searching for Answers
As spring training nears, the Cleveland Guardians are still looking for stability at shortstop. Bryan Rocchio and Gabriel Arias have both had their moments, but neither has grabbed the job with the kind of authority that makes you feel like the position is locked down for the long haul.
That unsettled picture up the middle is a direct result of a franchise-defining move that’s now more than five years in the rearview mirror: the trade that sent superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor-and veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco-to the New York Mets.
With enough time and hindsight to fully assess the ripple effects, it’s worth diving back into that blockbuster deal and asking the tough question: How did the Guardians really do?
The Deal
Mets received: SS Francisco Lindor, RHP Carlos Carrasco
Guardians received: SS Amed Rosario, SS Andrés Giménez, RHP Josh Wolf, OF Isaiah Greene
What the Mets Got: A Franchise Cornerstone
Let’s start with the obvious: Francisco Lindor has been everything the Mets hoped for-and more.
Since arriving in Queens, Lindor has racked up 27.3 bWAR, launched 141 home runs, and swiped 117 bags, all while posting a .261/.338/.462 slash line. After a rocky debut season, he’s found his stride, putting up an .829 OPS and a 129 OPS+ over the past four years. That’s elite production from a premium position.
And the Mets didn’t wait to see if he’d fit in before committing. They inked Lindor to a massive 10-year, $341 million extension before he ever played a regular-season game in a Mets uniform.
Five years in, that deal is aging well. He’s become not just a star, but a foundational piece of a team that’s built to contend.
Carlos Carrasco, on the other hand, didn’t have the same impact. Injuries and inconsistency defined his time in New York, where he posted a 5.21 ERA over nearly 300 innings.
He briefly returned to Cleveland in 2024, but his struggles continued, and he was cut midseason. Now, he’s trying to catch on with the Braves on a minor league deal.
Mets’ Grade: A+
You don’t often land a franchise shortstop in his prime, but the Mets did-and they locked him up long-term. This trade is a clear win for New York, and it’s fair to call it one of the best moves the franchise has made in recent memory.
What the Guardians Got: Short-Term Help, Long-Term Questions
When the deal went down, Amed Rosario looked like the centerpiece. He had four solid MLB seasons under his belt and was expected to step in right away. And to his credit, Rosario was a serviceable contributor in Cleveland, hitting .278/.314/.397 with 25 homers over two and a half seasons.
But he never quite clicked as a long-term fit. The Guardians shipped him to the Dodgers at the 2023 deadline for Noah Syndergaard, who gave them a few rough outings before being designated for assignment with a 5.40 ERA. That trade quickly turned into a dead end.
Andrés Giménez, meanwhile, emerged as the most impactful piece from Cleveland’s side. After a tough first year, he broke out in 2022, earning an All-Star nod and prompting the Guardians to give him a seven-year, $106.5 million extension. That looked like a savvy move at the time-but the shine wore off quickly.
Over the next two seasons, Giménez hit just .252 with an OPS+ of 89 across 305 games. His offensive production dipped, and questions about his long-term value started to grow louder. Eventually, Cleveland cut bait, trading him and reliever Nick Sandlin to the Blue Jays for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell.
That wasn’t the end of the shuffle. The Guardians flipped Horwitz to the Pirates for a package of prospects: Josh Hartle, Michael Kennedy, and Luis Ortiz.
Ortiz gave the Guardians a spark early in 2025, but his season-and likely his career-came to a halt when he was placed on paid leave due to a gambling investigation. As of now, it’s unlikely he throws another pitch in the majors.
As for Hartle, Kennedy, and Mitchell-they’re all promising, but still at least a couple years away from contributing at the big-league level. The Guardians are left hoping that one of them eventually makes the leap.
The other two pieces from the original trade, Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene, never made it to the majors. Both were released before getting a real shot in Cleveland.
Guardians’ Grade: D
It’s a tough pill to swallow. The Guardians traded a franchise icon and got some short-term value-but no long-term cornerstone in return.
Rosario and Giménez helped fuel a postseason run in 2022, but neither became the kind of player you build around. The prospects acquired through subsequent trades are still lottery tickets.
And that’s the heart of the issue: five years later, the Guardians still don’t have a clear answer at shortstop. The position remains unsettled, and the franchise is still feeling the aftershocks of moving on from one of its greatest homegrown stars.
The Lingering “What If?”
There’s no way to rewrite history, but it’s hard not to wonder: What if the Guardians had found a way to extend Francisco Lindor before the trade? What if he was still anchoring the infield and the lineup in Cleveland?
Instead, the Guardians are left with a handful of prospects, a few short-lived contributors, and a hole at shortstop that still hasn’t been filled.
The Lindor trade was always going to be a defining moment for the franchise. Five years later, it still is-but not in the way Cleveland fans were hoping.