The 6-Year-Old Son Of Indians GM Mike Chernoff Says His Dad Is Trying To Lock Up Francisco Lindor To A Seven-Year Extension
Brody Chernoff, who’s six years old and the son of Cleveland Indians general manager Mike Chernoff, joined the Tribe’s radio broadcast for a game over the weekend, aaaaand he made some headlines for some things that he said.
I hate kids. I’m sure I’ll like my own kids some day if I can ever find someone who wants to procreate with me, but I hate kids because they’re way too honest. If you ever want an honest opinion on your deepest insecurities, ask a kid and they’ll tell you everything that you never hoped to hear about yourself. That kind of applies here in a sense. We’ve got a kid being asked a question, who then gave an unexpectedly honest answer, only this was actually something that we want to hear.
The other thing to keep in mind is that kids make shit up a lot. I don’t get that vibe from little Brody here, though. The little shit kids who lie would’ve taken credit for the Edwin Encarnacion signing, but he gave all the props to his old man. That’s why I believe him when he says that his dad’s been trying to get shortstop Francisco Lindor to sign a seven-year extension.
If an extension were to be agreed upon right now, and year one of the extension replaced Lindor’s 2017 salary, then a deal of that length would buy out all three of his arbitration years, plus two years of free agency, locking up the native of Puerto Rico through 2023, allowing him to become a free agent prior to his age-30 season, which is a pretty common age to hit the free agent market. Lindor played out his rookie year during his age-21 season, which is somewhat rare, and currently sets him up to become a free agent prior to his age-28 season.
With the recent renaissance at the shortstop position between Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, and Lindor, the Tribe’s young infielder is certainly in the conversation for the best shortstop in the game, which means it would be wise to try to get something done now to make sure that he stays in Cleveland through his prime years. If you’re Lindor, you could also gamble on yourself here and consider the fact that if he continues to perform like he has thus far in his young career, he’ll likely make more money going through arbitration and having those first two free agent years that the Indians are trying to buy out. But then there’s also the peace of mind factor. Arbitration is a bitch to deal with, and having that kind of security for the next seven years could be appealing to him.
One more thing to keep in mind — hypothetically, let’s say Chernoff’s son is telling the truth and the Indians want to offer Lindor a seven-year extension, just because they want to doesn’t mean that they have yet, or have even approached him about one. Let’s not forget that Lindor was away for the entire World Baseball Classic with Puerto Rico making it to the championship game. That doesn’t exactly leave a ton of time to negotiate the next seven years of your life. If we haven’t heard anything from the Ken Rosenthal’s and the Buster Olney’s of the world about an extension, then it’s probably not close.
Still, it’d be great if the Tribe could keep this kid in Cleveland for the foreseeable future, though. They’ve got a great thing going with an excellent core of players over the next few years, and Lindor figures to be a big reason why the Indians are going to prove that 2016 was far from a flash in the pan.