Cleveland Indians will have to enter the 2019 MLB seasons without one of their best players. The team announced on Friday that their All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor suffered a right calf strain during workouts and will have to miss up to nine weeks.
This means that if everything goes well, Lindor will get back in April and won’t play in the season opener. Indians start the regular season on March 28th against Minnesota Twins.
Cleveland will hope that Francisco Lindor can get to his best shape as soon as possible, especially since he supposed to be the player entire team relies on this upcoming season. After Indians dealt several veteran players, including catcher Yan Gomes and outfielder Michael Brantley, they hoped Lindor could step in and take on a more prominent leadership role.
It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old is interested in something like this since he rejected the opportunity to sign a long term deal with the franchise earlier this year. Instead, in order to avoid arbitration, he inked a one-year, $10.55 million contract.
Francisco Lindor went on a great run in 2018, during which he batted .277 while managing 38 home runs, 92 RBIs, and league-high 129 runs. This great performance earned him his third straight All-Star appearance, while he also received a Silver Slugger Award.
