Let’s agree that Francisco Lindor is a generational baseball player who is not only beloved in Cleveland but nationally. His joy is shared by those who watch him. At all of 25 years old, he is baseball royalty.

Yet, we are resigned to losing him as he enters the prime of his career. With rare exception, our star players have been unloaded in their prime by a resource-challenged small market team that has, to the credit of management, remained surprisingly competitive.

Our owners, who generally live within their means, probably reason they cannot spend $30 million annually on one player and remain competitive. Understood.

Why not crowdfund a contract for Lindor? Recognizing the incongruity of asking a working-class city to fund part of a king’s ransom to play baseball, why not? If we chip in $100 million, maybe that puts the deal over the top. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who would throw in a few hundred bucks to watch Lindor retire in an Indians uniform.

Probably a ridiculous idea.

We have a little over two years to pull it off.

David Weiss,

Beachwood