Francisco Lindor doesn’t care about expectations.
“Mine has been the same since Day 1,” he told SNY in an interview in Port St. Lucie. “I want to win. And it goes back to what happens every single year. Whether they have us on top or in the bottom, we got to go out there and put it together and win. It don’t matter.”
“Nobody was suspecting the Diamondbacks, but I’m sure they were,” he said. “You know, probably not too many people were expecting the Rangers either, but I’m sure they were as well.” The 90-win Rangers beat the 84-win Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series. Both teams were wild cards and it was the Rangers first title in franchise history.
“So that’s kinda where every team is gonna be in the same boat,” Lindor told SNY. “It’s not about the expectations outside. It’s what you believe and what you think you can do.”
Lindor played in 160 games last season despite having “a lot” of elbow pain, but he said he is ready to go.
“It feels really good right now,” the shortstop said. “I’m in a good spot. The doctors and the trainers weren’t lying when they said it was gonna feel better over time so I’m there.”
He is happy with the team president David Stearns has assembled.
“I feel Stearns did a really good job and he had a plan and an approach and they executed,” he told SNY. “I feel like there still I think a couple pieces from what I keep on hearing from Stearns and that he has said in the media a couple times already there might be one or two things.”
Despite winning 75 games last year after a 101-win season in 2022, Lindor thinks the Mets are on the right track.
“Every year, you climb the stairs,” he said. “For some people, it might seem like we are going backward. I’m into the concept of the long-term view. I wasn’t here for one year, two years. I keep on seeing that we are moving in the right direction. Yes, we have changed people along the way, but I guess that is part of the process. I am fully on board. I respect what they are doing, and I’m here to win, and I keep on seeing good things that we are headed in that direction.”
