The Cleveland Guardians made headlines during the off-season for their decision to trade away a three-time Gold Glove Award winner in second baseman Andrés Giménez.
Cleveland didn’t like his downward trend offensively speaking, as they paid him more than $100 million after his fantastic 2022 (141 wRC+) to see him decline to 96 and 83 wRC+ marks in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
They found a taker for the huge contract in the Toronto Blue Jays and ended up getting solid players and prospects in return.
It was a good deal for Cleveland even though many people disliked and criticized it, both at the time and right now.
How about the deal for Toronto? It hinges on if they can get Giménez to be anywhere close to that 2022 version.
Well, if his first few games of the 2025 campaign are any indication, he looks very good.
On Monday, he hit his third homer of the year and we aren’t even in April.
Andrés Giménez – Toronto Blue Jays (3)
pic.twitter.com/pr76ksp0i5— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) March 31, 2025
Last year, Giménez went yard nine times with Cleveland.
Nine.
He already has a third of that total, so chances are he will easily eclipse it.
If the Blue Jays can get Giménez to perform like a league-average hitter or slightly above that level (think of a wRC+ between 100 and 110) he could be a real asset with his speed and game-changing defense.
At the moment of writing this piece, with the Blue Jays’ game underway, Gimenez’s OPS stood at a cool 1.311.
It had been .638 last year in Cleveland.
The Guardians certainly miss Giménez’s 2022 version.
That one was a star in the making.
But baseball is full of peaks and valleys, and Giménez looked lost as the plate for much of the last two years.
It’s hard to blame the Guardians for wanting to move on from that huge contract considering Giménez’s poor offensive performance.
The player, however, is still young and was a top prospect for a reason.
There is a chance he will enjoy a rebound in Toronto.
NEXT: Guardians Superstar Returns To Lineup After Injury Scare
