DALLAS — In acquiring three-time Gold Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez from the Cleveland Guardians, the Toronto Blue Jays have made their first significant splash of the offseason. But the deal — acquiring a glove-first player who may have untapped offensive upside — has to be the appetizer before the main course of acquiring an impact bat, and more pitching help, too, lest this offseason be a repeat of last year’s disappointment.
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Blue Jays trade for defensive whiz Andrés Giménez, but the bat is a question: Law
The Blue Jays acquired Giménez in a four-player trade on Day 2 at this year’s Winter Meetings on Tuesday. It’s believed the Blue Jays also received right-handed reliever Nick Sandlin in the deal while sending Cleveland first baseman Spencer Horwitz and minor-league outfielder Nick Mitchell. Neither team has yet to confirm the trade.
Giménez, who has spent the last four seasons in Cleveland after he was acquired from the New York Mets in the Francisco Lindor deal, gives the Blue Jays an exceptional defender in the middle of the infield. The 26-year-old has won the AL’s Gold Glove at second base in each of the last three seasons and could very well be the best second baseman in the majors.
His bat is more of a question mark, however.
Giménez had a career year in 2022, hitting .297/.371/.466, which he parlayed into earning a long-term contract from Cleveland that sees him still owed about $97 million through 2029 with a $30 million team option for 2030. But since 2022, Giménez has hit .252/.306/.368 with 24 home runs and has been worth 90 wRC+ in two seasons.
On paper, Giménez makes the Blue Jays better defensively, already a team strength, while his bat is below average and, at best, he’s a singles hitter, so he doesn’t fill the power hole in Toronto’s lineup. The immediate concern is this trade could end up looking a lot like the infield version of the Daulton Varsho deal, in which the Blue Jays gained a lot defensively, but the upside in the bat they promised two years ago hasn’t come to fruition.
So what’s the potential benefit of the deal for the Blue Jays? Well, the acquisition cost was fairly low. With the presumption that Cleveland was eager to get significant money off their books to increase their flexibility, they were willing to trade Giménez and Sandlin, a solid reliever, to Toronto for only Horwitz and a lottery ticket in Mitchell. In that way, the deal could end up being a lopsided win for Toronto if they can indeed unlock more offensive impact from Giménez.
Horwitz had a strong rookie season for the Blue Jays in 2024, hitting .265/.357/.433 with 12 home runs in 97 games. Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins called the 26-year-old “a really positive story in baseball. A really good hitter against right-handed pitching, and an up-and-coming, exciting player that we will be pulling for.” But Horwitz isn’t considered a strong defender on the Blue Jays roster already laden with young infielders without a set position.
Meanwhile, Atkins said the club was attracted to “everything” about Giménez.
“The work that we did on his bat and the offensive impact that can be there,” the Blue Jays GM said. “We’ve just heard incredible things about the person. The base runner, adding that level of speed (and) that level of athleticism and being here for a long time. All that was very attractive to us. The elite defence speaks for itself, and we acquired him to play second base for us.”
Giménez is due to make $10.5 million next season. His salary increases to $15.5 million in 2026 and $23.5 million for the three seasons after that. But the Blue Jays will see significant money come off their books after the 2025 season when Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Chris Bassitt hit free agency, while Kevin Gausman is a free agent after 2026. So the accounting for Giménez’s addition makes sense for Toronto, obviously with the big caveat that the club hopes they help him improve his hitting and they’re not paying a glove-only player $23.5 million in 2026 and beyond.
As for how to help Giménez return to the offensive profile he flashed in 2022, Atkins said the Blue Jays staff, including manager John Schneider and new hitting coach David Popkins have already given it some thought.
“The contact ability has been there. The grind in his at-bats has always been there. It’s more just getting to that exit velo that he had two years ago, and the movements that he had before are different,” Atkins said. “There are things that potentially we want to talk to him about.”
With Atkins confirming that Giménez was acquired to play second base, Bichette will remain the shortstop while the Blue Jays can consider using Will Wagner in a utility player role much like the one Cavan Biggio formerly did. Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Orelvis Martinez remain internal options to play third base, as well.
After the Giménez deal, the Blue Jays notch a point in the deals tally at these Winter Meetings and have at least made the team better defensively, for a relatively low cost. Earlier in the day, the club is also believed to have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Yimi García, bringing back the reliever they traded at the deadline. The deal is expected to be worth two years and $15 million, per a report from Sportnet’s Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson Smith.
But the Giménez and García deals can only be a piece of the bigger puzzle the team is building to retrofit the roster into a competitive unit for 2025. The Blue Jays still desperately need to bring in an impact bat and more pitching help, both on the starting and relieving side.
But the free-agent pool continues to shrink. The Blue Jays were interested in starter Max Fried, according to a report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, before the left-hander agreed to terms on an eight-year, $218 million deal with the New York Yankees. Fellow starting pitcher Corbin Burnes remains available, but the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are set to be just as motivated as the Blue Jays to sign him, as Rosenthal also reported.
On offence, Teoscar Hernández, Anthony Santander, Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman remain the top free-agent hitters still available. With options to plug guys into the outfield, infield or designated hitter, the Blue Jays remain flexible on who and how they can add more to their team.
The deals on Tuesday were a start, and the jury is still out on how this trade pans out. But one thing is certain: Much work is ahead for the Blue Jays.
(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)
