The Cleveland Guardians are striving to make another deep postseason run.
Of course, sometimes, that means taking risks and making moves.
That’s what the Guardians did weeks ago when they traded Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays.
When asked about that decision, manager Stephen Vogt admitted to Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com that it would be tough to replace such an impactful player:
“Losing Andres Gimenez is hard,” said Vogt. “We can’t move on to second base, without recognizing what Andres has meant to this team for the last few years. But it also creates opportunities and, probably similar to the shortstop competition of last year, there are a number of people that are going to get significant reps in spring training.”
The Guardians acquired Gimenez from the New York Mets back in 2021.
Gimenez’s spectacular defensive play granted him three consecutive Gold Gloves from 2022 to 2024 and the American League Platinum Glove in 2023.
He was also an All-Star in 2022, earning a seven-year, $106.5 million contract shortly afterward, which is why it was somewhat surprising to see the team part ways with him.
Gimenez was coming off a down year offensively, hitting .252 with nine home runs after hitting .297 with 17 homers in his All-Star campaign back in 2022.
Even so, he was still a major threat around the bases, logging 99 stolen bases in his career with the organization.
It’ll be interesting to see how Vogt and the Guardians manage to cope with this loss and how much of an impact it has on the team’s defense in 2025.
NEXT: Former Guardians All-Star Pitcher Re-Signs With NPB Team
