Trade details: Toronto acquires 2B Andrés Giménez and RHP Nick Sandlin from Cleveland for 1B/2B Spencer Horwitz and OF Nick Mitchell
For all of the rumors of the Blue Jays trading Bo Bichette, their first big move of the winter was an acquisition: trading for Cleveland’s defensive wizard Andrés Giménez, perhaps the best-fielding second baseman in baseball, and the long-term contract the Guardians gave him off a career year in 2022.
Giménez became a star in his second year in Cleveland after the Guardians made two major changes: They shifted him from shortstop to second base, where he’s an elite defender, and they eliminated his leg kick, which resulted in him hitting the ball much harder than he ever had and boosted his average launch angle too. He hit .297/.371/.466 and was worth 7.4 bWAR/6.1 fWAR in 2022, finishing sixth in MVP voting.
The bad news is that it didn’t take — Giménez slugged just .340 last year, and his average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and Barrel rate all ranked in the bottom 10 percent of MLB hitters. He’s given all of his 2022 gains back, and that season’s 37.8 percent hard-hit rate and 87.8 mph average exit velocity look like flukes in the context of his overall career. He’s still an outstanding defender, coming in at 14 runs above average in 2023 and 2024, but the bat is well below average. He’s under contract through 2029, and that’s a long time to lock up a singles hitter.
The Blue Jays are one of the only teams that could make an argument for paying retail for Giménez, as second base was a giant vortex of awful for them last year, to the point that they were playing first baseman Spencer Horwitz out of position there in September. (It didn’t go well.) Toronto also picked up right-handed reliever Nick Sandlin, a very effective guy against hitters on both sides of the plate despite a lower arm slot thanks to a plus splitter. He had a down year in 2024, giving up more power to right-handers than usual, and seems like a solid buy-low acquisition.
Even if Giménez does nothing more than repeat 2024, the trade probably makes the Jays four wins better, maybe more if you consider the incumbent options for second base in Toronto, none of which was likely to be more than replacement level. And maybe they’re setting up a Bichette trade where they’d move Giménez to the vacated shortstop spot.
Cleveland gets to move a contract that hasn’t worked out as planned for them, and frees up second base for their top prospect, Travis Bazzana, whom the Guardians selected No. 1 this past July. It’s not unreasonable to think Bazzana, who only hit .238/.369/.396 in High A after signing but was one of the best hitters in Division 1 last spring, could see the majors before the end of 2025, so moving Giménez now while 2022 still looks like it might represent some untapped potential makes sense.
That said, this is a lot to give up just to dump a contract. Sandlin had a bad 2024, but he has some value, even as a one-inning reliever who walks a few too many guys. Horwitz is a first baseman with a good approach who hit everywhere he played in the minors, but was always old for his levels and was a 26-year-old rookie last year. He’s probably a platoon guy at best, hitting right-handers and playing adequate defense at first, but the market for platoon first basemen is quite limited.
Adding Horwitz to a roster with Josh Naylor, Jhonkensy Noel and Kyle Manzardo makes little sense, even if the plan is to trade one of them, as they’re probably all better than he is and only Naylor is older (by all of five months). Maybe they deal Naylor, but then Manzardo plays first and Noel DH, or vice versa, leaving Horwitz as a nice left-handed bat off the bench, or a platoon partner for Noel, who had a .282 OBP in a small sample against righties in the majors.
Nick Mitchell was the Jays’ fourth-round pick in 2024, a corner outfielder who doesn’t chase much and hits fastballs well, but so far hasn’t shown enough power to profile as a regular in a corner. He does make hard enough contact to hit for average, but might not get to more than 10-12 homers a year, which would limit him to the ceiling of a very solid fourth outfielder.
It is about as clear a salary dump as you’ll see — the Guardians had to send Sandlin and accept a minimal return to get Giménez’s remaining $99 million off the books. I hope owner Paul Dolan plans to let the front office spend that money to improve the team, perhaps to add someone with strong on-base skills, rather than put it in his pocket.
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
