It’s okay to cheer, It’s okay to boo
As a fan, you have a right to do many things. You have a right to be upset if your team loses, and you have a right to cheer when they do well. You have a right to complain about the lack of moves a front office makes and a right to bemoan the production of former players in different places when “you knew those boneheads were wrong to move him”. You have the right to razz other teams’ players, especially those that have been thorns in the side of your franchise for years. You have a right to be a fanatic, what the word “fan” is derived from. And fans of the Cleveland Guardians have the right to cheer or boo someone in the stadium if they used to play here. Whether or not you should is a different thing entirely.
Tonight marks the first time Francisco Lindor plays against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland since being dealt away along with Guard-again Carlos Carrasco, to the New York Mets. A trade that made sense both at the time and now in the present-day, as Lindor had made it apparent that he was wanting to a bigger payday than Cleveland was willing to make. The return has been mixed for Cleveland, as Andres Gimenez has shined at second base, making it to 6th in the MVP vote in 2022 and seems to be recapturing some of that in 2024 after a dismal ((by comparison to 2022)) 2023, while other headliner of the deal, Amed Rosario is no longer on the roster.
As for Lindor, he has grown into the lights of New York, after a subpar for him first year, posting fWAR seasons of 3.9, 6.4, and 5.6 in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. 2024 has not gone well for him, as he’s currently hitting under .200, but he does have seven home runs and six stolen bases while keeping the ratios well enough. And New York seems to be, well, New York about it all, with boos coming down for the slugging shortstop since their perception of his production does not match up with what they had in mind when he signed his 10 year, $341 million deal.
Understandably, the conversation on Twitter today ((I’ll never call it X, I don’t care.)) has become about booing the player when he arrives at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Not being in Cleveland proper, I will not be in attendance, but if I were, I’d choose to cheer. He never asked for a trade, simply to be paid what he felt he was worth, and supplied the organization with years worth of value and moments that are unshakeable from memory. The grand slam in the playoffs against the Yankees still remains one of, if not the, loudest moments in an MLB stadium. His smile and general demeanor helped ingratiate my wife to the sport, as she often asks me about how he’s doing, even while she knows he isn’t in Cleveland anymore. Does it suck when players want more than a team is willing to spend? Of course, but that’s not the players fault. And the trade helped set up the franchise with a player that has performed equal to if not better than the outgoing one. And the ownerships comments about him ((“Enjoy him” was one of the worst moments of the Dolan ownership, IMO.)) have turned many in the Cleveland fandom against the player rather than the person not willing to pony up for him. So while it is fully within your right as a fan to boo the man tonight or this week, I ask that you remember him as he was: a great Cleveland player.
