PORT ST. LUCIE — Francisco Lindor doesn’t formally maintain the title of captain with the Mets. Nobody has held that title since David Wright’s profession ended on the conclusion of the 2018 season. In case you ask Lindor, he doesn’t want the formal title.
“The captain thing is not something that’s for me to decide,” Lindor mentioned Saturday at Clover Park throughout his first spring coaching press convention. “If it does happen, it’d be fantastic. It would be an honor to be a privilege, and something I’d never take for granted. My name would be next to some of the greats of this organization forever and it’d be very humbling…
“It’s not going to change my job.”
Lindor isn’t the one participant on the sphere, however in some methods, he’s the identification of the Mets. With the assistance of one other key workforce chief, Brandon Nimmo, in addition to different veterans which have come by means of since Lindor was traded from Cleveland to New York earlier than the 2021 season, the tradition within the clubhouse has largely been pushed by Lindor.
It’s secure to say that tradition is in place after the 2024 season. The Mets shocked the baseball world by advancing to Recreation 6 of the NLCS after clinching a playoff spot sooner or later after the common season had concluded, and Lindor authored a few of the most heroic postseason moments in membership historical past.
However the magic of OMG is behind them. It’s a brand new season, and whereas lots of the faces are the identical, the Mets must forge a brand new identification, they want a brand new rallying cry and perhaps even a brand new postgame victory music. Extra importantly, they will’t take a step again. Not with celebrity outfielder Juan Soto within the lineup and never with a projected payroll of $331 million.
“We have a really good team; the opportunity that we have in front of us is amazing,” Lindor mentioned. “But I’ve been in teams I’ve had high expectations and haven’t done much, and teams that haven’t had as high of expectations and have done a lot. So we’ve got to go out there and go to work.”
Two years in the past, the Mets had an exorbitant payroll and embarrassingly ended the season with little to point out for it. This isn’t a brand new factor for this workforce, however seasons like that have been speculated to be behind them with new possession and the addition of stars like Lindor. So final 12 months’s run was additional gratifying, but additionally validating. Whereas the remainder of baseball may not have made a lot of the Mets, Lindor had been saying because the first day of spring coaching that he thought the workforce may shock.
Now, they aren’t shocking anybody. There’s a goal on the again of the Mets, as there’s for each contender, and Lindor will play a vital function in ensuring the requirements are upheld and the successful continues.
The 31-year-old is fast to notice that it’s not all on him. Baseball ops boss David Stearns constructed a workforce of gamers that seem to have the character the Mets are searching for, one thing Lindor views as a possible power of the 2025 squad.
“We have an opportunity to play the game the right way,” he mentioned. “There are a lot of guys here with the ability to do the little things right day in and day out. That’s something that I’m looking forward to and I think it’s something that can take us very far.”
Lindor will lead one of the best ways he is aware of how. He’ll lean on Nimmo, he’ll have powerful conversations with younger gamers, he’ll play the sport with integrity, attempt to get everybody else on the identical web page and again off when obligatory.
“I’ve always been good at just observing, but I feel like I’ve gotten a little better at just taking a look around and making sure everything is in the right place,” he mentioned. “I’ve also understood that my job is really important. Playing shortstop for the New York Mets is really important. If I do that, a lot of other things are going to take care of itself.”
Lindor will even make himself accessible to play each day. Convincing him to take a time off has confirmed almost unimaginable, and it sounds as if that’s nonetheless the case.
“MLB does a fantastic job of putting days off in the calendar,” he mentioned.
The again seems to be nice as Lindor begins camp. He confirmed as a lot Saturday when he mentioned he’s in a position to decide up his daughters with ease. The success of the Mets gained’t solely hinge on whether or not or not Lindor stays wholesome, but it surely positive will make a distinction. It will likely be decided by the power of the lineup and the depth of the pitching employees.
It’ll even be decided by the way it stays collectively to climate the storms of the season. Captain or not, the Mets want all Lindor has to offer.
“It’s going to be a bunch of guys that are held accountable for their own actions,” Lindor mentioned. “Guys are going to be prepared. Let them go out and take it.”
