By: Jeremy Lawless

Two Words that fell coarsely onto Cleveland Indians fans, Enjoy Him. Spoken by Paul Dolan at a Cleveland Sports Awards banquet. A direct and seemingly already decided sentiment into Francisco Lindor’s future with the team.

In a year where the Indians have slashed their payroll from 119 million dollars to hovering around 90 million, how much more will the Indians cut? Lindor is the face of the franchise. He’s a Major League Baseball Star, and not just in Cleveland. The Indians could field the exact same roster in 2020 if you just subtract Carlos Santana next year and they ran at $120 million payroll and signed Lindor to a major deal.

$120 million dollar payroll would be $18 million dollars under the Yankee and Dodgers inflated MLB Average and land the Indians with the 11th lowest payroll in the league.

Teams will more than likely be lining up for his services either by trade this offseason, at the trade deadline in 2021 or even as a free agent after the 2021 season. He will get paid.

Why wouldn’t the Indians pay him? 

Mookie Betts’ deal is the richest of all time and averages about $33 million a year. That’s a steep price to pay, sure but perennial All-Stars aren’t guaranteed to come around too often. 

It seems every year (outside of 2020) we hear the Dolans whine about attendance at Progressive Field. Cleveland fans are tired of being a farm system for the big money teams. Watching the Thome’s, the Ramirez’s and Sabathia’s leave and continue Hall of Fame Careers with other teams. 

Cleveland fans sold out 455 consecutive games in the 90’s. The support is there but not for nothing. In MLB you have to spend money to make money.

Enjoy Him? No. Pay him!