Stats Say Andrés Giménez Leaves Huge Void In Guardians Infield

The Cleveland Guardians made a bold move this week, sending All-Star and multiple Gold Glove award winner Andrés Giménez to the Toronto Blue Jays.

They got infielder Spencer Horwitz in return  and then flipped him Luis Ortiz and two additional pitching prospects.

Ortiz will be part of the Guardians rotation for years to come, but losing Giménez irked much of the fan base and even some of the players.

In reality, Giménez isn’t much of a hitter and offense is perhaps the most important part of the game these days.

However, there is no denying his contributions to the Guards across the board.

“Andrés Giménez last 3 seasons: 80 stolen bases, 60 defensive runs saved, 16.7 WAR. But the bat MUST improve to justify this trade for Toronto,” analyst Paul Hembekides posted on X, with a clip of the analysis.

Andrés Giménez last 3 seasons:

80 stolen bases
60 defensive runs saved
16.7 WAR

But the bat MUST improve to justify this trade for Toronto 👇 pic.twitter.com/jLDrU86tsN

— Paul Hembekides (Hembo) (@PaulHembo) December 14, 2024

His main point was praising Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti for having the vision and stomach to deal Giménez and accept the fan backlash, while also stating that, judging by his 89 OPS+ in the last two seasons, Giménez needs to improve for Toronto to see some value in the deal.

While explaining his point, however, Hembekides wrote some key stats Giménez accumulated in his last three years in Cleveland: 80 steals, 60 DRS, and 16.7 WAR.

That’s about 26-27 steals, 20 DRS and 5.56 WAR per season.

Not too shabby, huh?

That’s the void he is leaving in Cleveland, and the organization will need to have a worthy replacement ready to take over.

The problem is that Giménez’s game of elite defense and wheels is not exactly the type of recipe that most teams use these days.

Toronto is taking a chance on that even though it might not work.

The Guardians, on the other hand, took advantage of Giménez’s perception around the league, shed salary and got a good starter.