The Blue Jays are Going for 3 Straight! (American League Team Gold Gloves)
Blue Jays Trade Spencer Horwitz and Prospect Nick Mitchell to Guardians for 3x Gold Glove Winner Andrés Giménez and RP Nick Sandlin
Breaking it Down
Second baseman Andrés Giménez is on his way to Toronto along with right handed reliever Nick Sandlin. Giménez, the winner of 3 Gold Gloves and even the 2023 Platinum Glove is truly an incredible fielder. He tied with Marcus Semien and Dansby Swanson to lead infielders with a fielding run value of 14 and tied with Marcus Semien for 2nd in baseball with 19 outs above average. Giménez’s glove leaves nothing to be desired. However his bat does; to be blunt, Giménez swings a complete noodle from the left side of the plate. In 2024 he rocked a very poor .638 OPS with just 9 homers, on route to an 8th percentile batting run value according to Savant.
In fact, according to Savant Giménez had a bottom 10th percentile average exit velocity, barrel %, Hard Hit %, Bat Speed, Chase %, and Walk % in 2024.
Translation:
Giménez is owed almost 100 million dollars through 2029 and gets really expensive in 2027 when he’ll make $23.5M a year. There is also a $23M club option for 2030.
Here’s what Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins had to say to Keegan Matheson at the Winter Meetings:
Nick Sandlin will factor into the Blue Jays bullpen in a middle relief roll. He looks to slop hitters to death, throwing his slider more than his below average fastball and brings a pretty sweet splitter that helped him to a 33.7 whiff % (95th percentile) and a 27.6 K % (81st percentile). He struggles with giving up homers (don’t look at his FIP), but the strikeout statistics are encouraging. Sandlin was not on the Cleveland Guardians’ playoff roster.
Spencer Horwitz is the main Return headed to Cleveland, leaving a lot of Jays fans scratching their heads. While there are some obvious questions about where Horwitz fits on the diamond, (I still think he was fine at 2B) the high floor bat and small contract do carry a lot of value. He impressed in 2024 as a rookie with a 125 OPS+ across 328 at bats, and was arguably the Blue Jays’ second best hitter down the stretch.
Nick Mitchell is an outfield prospect that the Blue Jays took in the 4th round of this summer’s draft. the 21 year old saw some success in Dundedin this summer in 22 games, but is not considered a major prospect.
What do we Think?
I have to be very clear: I think trading your second best hitter for a glove first player is very bad.
I think it’s not a good sign for Bo Bichette’s future with the club that they’re guaranteed a middle infielder $100M, although it definitely doesn’t mean he’s gone for sure.
It’s also a bad sign when the fans of the other team are overwhelmingly enthusiastic after you complete a trade with them as seen by my roommate:
Now watch me talk myself into this in 14 sentences:
WAR is the easiest way for us to evaluate players and by WAR this trade looks to be a win for the Jays. Despite his bat completely cratering, Giménez’s was worth 2.8 fWAR. According to Fangraphs and Steamer, in 2025, Giménez projects to be a worth 3 wins to Horwtiz’s 2.
I’m pretty jaded on the defence first mentality that the Jays have had the last couple of years because I’ve seen exactly what 2 straight AL Team Gold Gloves is worth in terms of wins. I think offence is clearly the most important part of baseball and I very much dislike paying glove first players, but if we follow the rule of $8M = 1 fWAR, then Giménez should carry enough value to be worth the big contract, although it doesn’t look like a bargain.
To this point, I’ve also failed to mention that Giménez has a 6 win season under his belt, where he paired his elite defence with a 141 wRC+ (2022). If the Blue Jays can get even a league average bat out of him, I think Giménez will be well worth the value the Jays gave up in Horwitz, and if he can rediscover his 2022 self, the trade is a steal.
The biggest question I have is what the hell are the Jays going to do with Will Wagner, Leo Jimenez, Ernie Clement, Orelvis Martinez and Josh Kasevich? So many middle infielders and it looks like the only open spot on the infield right now is third base. The Jays clearly have a lot of moves to make still, and we’ll judge the offseason as a whole rather than its individual moves.
I would have preferred that if Horwitz was getting traded it would be for a top reliever like Devin Williams or Camilo Duval, but it’s about who you get, not how you get them. And there’s a lot of guys to get (a power [or 2] bat a starting pitcher and 2 relievers) before Spring Training opens up in February.
I think as long as there are moves to make the lineup more dangerous, value wise, the trade is fine, even if I think the way the Jays are perceiving Giménez’s value is flawed.
I’ll leave you with this:
Corbin Burnes had a 48.8 GB% in 2024, and having Andres Giménez playing up the middle probably makes the Jays a little bit more attractive to the Ace.
Leave some thoughts on the trade!
The most exciting play in baseball is a Sandlin induced groundout to second base and thats why we love Ross.