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PORT ST. LUCIE — Francisco Lindor nonetheless isn’t positive what hit him final yr, however he’s out to make sure the narrative adjustments.
“I nonetheless have gotten 10 extra years,” the Mets shortstop stated Tuesday, providing a reminder that the contract extension he signed last March, worth $341 million, doesn’t even begin till this season.
The Mets had motive to really feel cheated final season, when Lindor, after arriving in a commerce with Cleveland, produced an atypical .230/.322/.412 slash line with 20 homers and 63 RBIs. It’s a season that began poorly and ended with Lindor extra resembling the participant the Mets thought they have been receiving.
Upon additional evaluation, the 28-year-old former All-Star suspects a change in offseason routine may need affected his efficiency. That included all the things from relocating to a different metropolis to the beginning of a daughter. Perhaps Lindor wasn’t targeted sufficient on preparation for his new job.
“Final yr all the things form of blended collectively,” Lindor stated.
Lindor was jeered last season at Citi Field — resulting in his resolution to “boo” the followers (together with teammates Javier Baez and Kevin Pillar) by flashing a thumbs-down to the gang after reaching base. Lindor and Baez later apologized to the fans.
It’s clear Lindor took the booing too personally, a subject that was broached when he lately spoke to supervisor Buck Showalter.
“The followers, they need one thing to embrace you,” Lindor stated. “The followers need to cheer for you. When you don’t give them that you will hear it.”
Baez, who arrived final yr on the commerce deadline, signed a six-year contract with the Tigers value $140 million. Lindor had hoped his buddy would return to the Mets.
“Steve [Cohen] had a unique imaginative and prescient, together with Sandy [Alderson] and Billy [Eppler], they’d a unique imaginative and prescient,” Lindor stated, referring to the group proprietor, president and basic supervisor. “You respect it. I’m a New York Met. I’m all in for the New York Mets. I needed [Baez] to be right here, however he’s not so now I want him nothing however one of the best. I’ll proceed to speak to him and hopefully we see him within the World Collection in opposition to us.”
Lindor’s “Mr. Smile” persona took successful final Could, when he fought with teammate Jeff McNeil. On the time, the 2 laughed off the incident as an argument over whether or not it was a rat or raccoon that had invaded the tunnel main between the dugout and clubhouse. The Put up reported in November that Lindor, indignant about McNeil’s repeated positioning errors in shifting — and the second baseman’s dismissive angle about it — grabbed McNeil by the throat and pinned him in opposition to a wall within the tunnel. The altercation was damaged up by teammates.
“That is one thing that’s up to now,” Lindor stated. “Me and McNeil, we’ve got been good ever since then. We proceed to play the sport as exhausting as we are able to and finally we’re two rivals that need to win. We need to do no matter it takes to win.”
Lindor appeared heading in the right direction in July earlier than a strained indirect eliminated him from the lineup for 5 weeks. In September he produced a .933 OPS, which included a three-homer sport in opposition to the Yankees.
However Lindor’s brutal April and Could numbers, particularly — he owned a .589 OPS over the primary two months — have been tough to miss.
“To be trustworthy, if we discuss final yr I didn’t really feel as if I used to be slumping,” Lindor stated. “I wasn’t hitting, clearly, the numbers weren’t there, however I felt like I used to be having good days. I used to be simply inconsistent. I wasn’t constant day by day so it led to a [.182], I feel I hit within the first month. I simply wasn’t constant.
“I wasn’t placing bricks each single day and to have a wall you need to put the bricks each single day. I used to be simply placing the bricks each two days. It wasn’t what I needed.”
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