Jim Ingraham: Less season means less Francisco Lindor and that's more bad news for Indians

Instructed by ownership to "enjoy him" while Francisco Lindor is still around, Indians fans can't even do that. Not with Major League Baseball, and all sports, on hiatus. When there are no games there are no players. When there are no players there is no Lindor, brightening everyone's days with his Hall of Fame smile and thrilling Indians fans with all five of his tools. The games will resume eventually, but nobody knows when that will be. Meanwhile, Lindor's free agent clock continues to tick, even though he's out of sight, not out of the minds of Indians fans, but eventually to be out of Cleveland. Last week Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement on the many issues that needed addressing due to the suspension of the season. One part of the agreement is that all players will receive credit for a full-year of service time, regardless of how many games are played in the 2020 season, or even if there is no season. In other words, Lindor, even if we don't see much of him or the Indians this year, can still become a free agent after the 2021 season. That's bad news for the Indians, and Indians fans, who clearly won't get a full season of Lindor-watching in 2020, unless MLB can figure out a way to play 162 games in a season that is probably going to be at least two months late in starting. Additionally, all major league rosters are now frozen, meaning, among other things, that there can't be any trades until MLB sets a date for the resumption of transactions. So any team or teams wanting to trade a player because of his approaching free agency is prohibited from doing so until further notice. This would seem to make it likely that the Indians will not trade Lindor this year, which seemed like a potential scenario, had there been a normal-length season in which the Indians fell out of contention at the trade deadline. The expectation of a shortened season increases the likelihood that the Indians will remain in contention in the AL Central race, and need to keep Lindor, for however long the season is. Do the math: fewer games? Closer races. So for those handicapping the "when will they trade Lindor?" sweepstakes, the earliest it would happen now would seem to be after the 2020 season. Not getting two full seasons from Lindor before he leaves as a free agent is bad luck for the Indians. A team with even worse luck, potentially, is the Dodgers, who during the offseason traded for Mookie Betts. Betts can become a free agent after the 2020 season, meaning there's a scenario — the entire 2020 season is canceled — in which the Dodgers traded for Betts, but never got to see him play a game in a Dodgers uniform. Of course, there's also a no-2020-season-at-all scenario in which, after the non-season, the affluent Dodgers simply sign Betts to a long-term contract, and the two live happily ever after. Such a scenario for the Indians with Lindor seems not just remote, but fantasyland. Indeed, no matter how the 2020 season plays out — or even if it doesn't play out — the big-market teams will still have an economic advantage over the smaller-market teams. Whatever the hardship is, the big-market teams are always better equipped to handle it than the other teams. That's not opinion. That's an economic reality. Even if Betts didn't return to the Dodgers, who have won the NL West in each of the last seven years while averaging 96 wins per season, they would just go out and buy the top free agent on the market, which, following the 2021 season would be — oh, I don't know. Rhymes with "Schlindor"? You think it's tough running an under-financed, small-market team and keeping it in contention year after year in the best of times? Try running it and keeping it in contention in the worst of times. That's the challenge faced by Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff now. Their sport is in uncharted, uncertain waters. Nobody knows how any of this is going to play out, but once it does, once we come out the other side, the same fiscal realities will apply in the same proportions as they did going into it. The Dodgers are still going to be the Dodgers. The Yankees are still going to be the Yankees. The Red Sox are still going to be the Red Sox. And the Indians are still going to be the Indians. It's great to be clever, astute, opportunistic, visionary, creative and resourceful. But it's better still to have the most money. In Major League Baseball, the playing field isn't level in the best of times, and it's even choppier in the worst of times. Contact Jim Ingraham at ctsports@chroniclet.com or jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on Twitter.