Mets' Francisco Lindor addresses facing former team

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor will embrace his past and present when he faces the Cleveland Guardians for the first time since that fateful Jan. 2021 trade. 

"A hundred percent, I support them," Lindor said of the Guardians before the three-game series between the clubs at Citi Field opened on Friday night, per Anthony DiComo of the Mets' website. "I want nothing but the best for them. But obviously, they’re going to play against us, so I’m going to do whatever it takes to beat them." 

Lindor featured for Cleveland from 2015 through the 2020 season and became a beloved figure affectionately known as "Mr. Smile" among fans. He earned American League All-Star nods every year from 2016 through 2019 and helped the 2016 Guardians complete a trip to the World Series, where they fell to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. 

It became clear following the 2020 season that Cleveland wasn't going to meet Lindor's contract requests, so the club sent him and starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco to the Mets for shortstops Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, along with two prospects. 

Lindor subsequently signed a 10-year, $341M contract extension with the Mets before the 2021 campaign. 

"I was scared because I was going to start fresh," Lindor told DiComo about the trade. "But I also felt protected, because I was not going to go by myself. I knew [the Guardians] loved me, and wherever I went, I was going to go to a place where they loved me as well. I was scared, but at the same time, it was exciting." 

The 2022 Mets lost their wild-card playoff series to the San Diego Padres, while the Guardians got past the Tampa Bay Rays before they were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series. Despite that, Lindor called the trade "rewarding" because of where he landed that winter. 

"This was one of the places I wanted to be," Lindor said of New York.