The Cleveland Guardians’ offense collapsing down the stretch was a huge reason they fell short in the ALCS.
It became glaringly obvious that the team needed upgrades at the plate this offseason.
One area that needed improvement was first base.
Josh Naylor got off to a hot start and made his first All-Star team last season, but he cratered down the stretch and was a liability in the postseason with a .531 OPS.
Despite being just 27 years old, Cleveland decided it was time to move on and traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks while replacing him with Carlos Santana on a one-year deal, for which Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com provided some context.
“Cleveland viewed the trade like this: Naylor was in the final year of his contract. They decided they’d rather bring in Carlos Santana for one year to play first base – especially because it allowed them to add Cecconi and the draft pick. They considered the draft pick to be important,” Pluto said.
It’s a reasonable explanation, as the team clearly had no intentions of extending Naylor beyond 2025, and Santana produced more WAR last season, even at 38 years old.
It will be fun to have a fan favorite back in the lineup, as Santana could be going on a retirement tour heading into his age-39 season.
With just weeks left in the offseason, the Guardians still haven’t acquired any added thump for their lineup, though removing Andres Gimenez from second base could help, given how cold his bat has gone the past couple of years.
It’s looking like the Guardians are simply hoping for improvement from the guys they have in-house, namely Jhonkensy Noel in the outfield and potentially No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana, who has second base waiting for him whenever he is ready.
NEXT: Insider Reveals Why The Guardians Traded Andres Gimenez
