Mets Star's Trade Future Could Be Decided This Winter

September 09, 2026
Francisco Lindor made it through the 2026 trade deadline in a New York Mets uniform. 

According to multiple insiders, that's a very different thing from making it through the winter.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported that rival executives believe Lindor will eventually be traded, just not this summer. 

"Rival executives believe that Lindor will eventually be traded, but more likely in the offseason than now," Nightengale wrote, explaining that any deal is complicated enough with money and roster construction that it's far easier to execute once teams have a full winter to sort out payroll rather than trying to force something through in-season.

Why New York Kept Him For Now

The decision to hold onto Lindor through the deadline wasn't really in question by the time August 3 arrived. 

SNY's Danny Abriano argued Lindor's contract put him in the same "immovable" category as players like Aaron Nola and Xander Bogaerts, veterans making elite money on deals that stretch into their late 30s. 

President of baseball operations David Stearns never fully closed the door but leaned hard into keeping his stars, telling reporters, "We've got a group of young players and we've got some potential Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers, that we view as our core. We expect them to be our core."

Lindor is owed roughly $170.5 million over the next five seasons on a contract that runs through 2031, and he holds a full no-trade clause that gives him complete say over any deal, something he's repeatedly declined to discuss when asked directly. 

His 2026 season didn't help make a strong trade case either, limited to just 83 games by a hamate bone injury and a calf strain, and slashing .231/.316/.424 with 15 home runs, numbers that trail his typical output even in a season better than the raw batting line suggests.

Where He Could Land If A Deal Happens

Several outlets have already sketched out realistic winter destinations. 

The Toronto Blue Jays have been floated as a fit built around a pretty ironic framework, sending back Andres Gimenez, the same player Cleveland once traded for Lindor himself, giving New York a chance to get younger while adding elite defense up the middle. 

A reunion with the Cleveland Guardians, where Lindor broke into the league and became a star before his 2021 trade to New York, has also been floated repeatedly, with the fit driven partly by Cleveland's ongoing need for offense in a competitive AL Central race. 

The Yankees have come up too, given their crosstown presence and Lindor's stated comfort playing in New York, along with San Francisco, a team with a clear hole at shortstop and the payroll to take on a star.

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