Blue Jays reportedly trade for Andrés Giménez: Fantasy outlook and breakdown of the three-team trade

The Blue Jays were reportedly in on the bidding for both Juan Soto and Max Fried. They missed out on both, so they changed course and swung a deal to land a 26-year-old defensive wizard for their middle infield.

On Tuesday night the Blue Jays reportedly sent first baseman Spencer Horwitz and Minor League outfielder Nick Mitchell to the Guardians for second baseman Andrés Giménez and right-handed reliever Nick Sandlin.

As of publishing, neither team has confirmed the trade; however, Mark Feinsand reported an addition to the deal later that night.

Assuming it does go through as reported, what does the deal do for the fantasy value of the players involved and their new teammates? What does it mean for the playoff implications for the Blue Jays and Guardians? We’ll go over all that here.

How does this impact Andrés Giménez’s fantasy value?

In honesty, it doesn’t. We kind of know who Giménez is at this point and moving to Toronto doesn’t change that.

The 26-year-old broke out in 2022 when he hit .297 with a .837 OPS while playing elite defense. That allowed him to post a 6.1 WAR, but he’s been unable to match that over the next two years, posting OPS marks of .712 and .638 over the last two seasons with WARs of 3.8 and 2.8.

Giménez has finished somewhere between 64 and 76 runs scored in each of the last three years and driven in between 62 and 69 runs in each of those last three years. He also stole 30 bases in each of the last two seasons. He did all of that while hitting mostly sixth for the Guardians and, unless the Blue Jays decide to move George Springer or Bo Bichette down in the order, then Giménez is going to hit sixth for the Blue Jays as well.

However, last year, the Blue Jays scored fewer runs than the Guardians, had fewer RBI than the Guardians, and had a 101 wRC+ compared to a 100 for the Guardians. So Giménez will likely hit in the same spot in the order in a lineup that might be slightly weaker than the one he was in last season. Rogers Centre is a slightly better park for left-handed hitters, according to Statcast Park Factors, and is better for power in particular, so it’s possible that Giménez would see a slight park boost to offset some of the lineup regression.

At the end of the day, that keeps Giménez as a speed-first fantasy asset who will likely score between 65-75 runs and drive in between 60-70 but not be a major difference maker in either category.

How does this impact Spencer Horwitz’s fantasy value?

Just like Giménez, Horwitz is a left-handed hitter, and he’ll be moving into a clear starting role to a far better home park. Pittsburgh is the 4th-best park for left-handed hitters, according to Statcast Park Factors. PNC Park ranks 5th for left-handed hitters when it comes to doubles and 13th for left-handed pull power but those doubles alleys will be huge for Horwitz.

The 27-year-old is an elite on-base percentage asset with a tremendous feel for the strike zone and contact ability. He posted a higher walk rate in Triple-A in 2024 than a strikeout rate, and he had just an 18.4% strikeout rate in his first career 97 MLB games. He’s not a huge stolen base asset, but he did steal nine bases in 107 games in Triple-A in 2023 so maybe he can steal 5-8 bases if the Pirates let him run.

The Pirates could choose to play Horwitz at second base over Nick Gonzalez, but it feels far more likely he takes over as the first baseman since that spot is vacant and it’s where he grades out better defensively. Given his on-base skills, it makes sense for Horwitz to hit higher in the order, so maybe he bats second with Bryan Reynolds sliding down to third and Oneil Cruz hitting clean-up. That’s not a bad spot for Horwitz to produce some solid run totals to go along with a .260-.270 average and 15+ home runs. Given that he will have 1B/2B eligibility, that’s not a bad player to fill a MI/CI spot in deeper formats.

Who else has their fantasy value impacted by this deal?

The biggest name that could be impacted by this trade is Travis Bazzana, the Guardians’ first overall pick in the 2024 draft after coming over from Australia and crushing it for Oregon State. Bazzana will be 22 years old next season and played all of 2024 at High-A, which means he should start the year in Double-A with a chance to push for MLB at-bats by the end of 2025 or early in 2026. By all accounts, Bazzana has the makings of a stud, and trading away Giménez means that the Guardians don’t have to try and find another position for their young stud to play.

It’s also possible that Luis L. Ortiz will slot into the rotation for the Guardians, which is interesting. During the 2024 season, I covered the pitch mix changes Ortiz made, adding a cutter that induced a lot of weak contact and was a well-commanded fastball that he got a lot of called strikes on, which was crucial for him. Ortiz pairs that with an above-average slider that performed well in two-strike counts and a sinker that he also commands well and gets a fair amount of groundballs. If the Guardians can help his use his four-seam up in the zone for whiffs too, Ortiz could find another level. Considering he’s only 25 years old and a former Top 100 prospect, that’s an interesting gamble to take.

On the Blue Jays side of things, Will Wagner and Orelvis Martinez were the likely candidates to start at second base in 2025, but that changes now. It’s possible that one of them could slide to the designated hitter or push Ernie Clement for the starting third base job, but their path to playing time just got a lot trickier for next season, which makes it harder to draft either one of them until we know more about how the Blue Jays lineup will shake out, You’d have to imagine the Blue Jays would have to miss out on plenty more free agents if either one of them is the starting designated hitter on opening day.

Why would the Cleveland Guardians make this deal?

Other than opening up space for Bazzana, this deal was all about financial flexibility. In 2023, Giménez signed a 7-year, $106,500,000 contract with the Cleveland Guardians. The last two seasons were the only two cheap seasons on Giménez’s contract, which means there is over $99 million remaining on his deal.

If the Guardians believe that Giménez is closer to the player who hit around .250 with a combined 24 home runs over the last two seasons and a sub-4.0 WAR, then moving off of that contract makes a ton of sense.

They also get to take a flyer on Luis L. Ortiz and three young prospects, including Nick Mitchell, who is a young player who acquitted himself well in his pro debut last year after being a fourth-round pick by the Blue Jays.

The two prospects the Guardians picked up from the Pirates are LHPs Michael Kennedy and Josh Hartle, who ranked 15th and 17th in the Pirates’ system respectively. Kennedy is a 20-year-old with a deceptive delivery and solid three-pitch mix led by a strong slider, and Harte is a 6’5″ 21-year-old with a potential four-pitch arsenal led by a strong slider and a mid-90s fastball. He was once thought of as a potential first-round pick and is young enough that the Guardians have plenty of time to help him recapture that level.

Why would the Pirates make this deal?

I mean, the Pirates just got a cost-controlled, starting-caliber MLB hitter for two pitching prospects who are years away and a starter they have not been able to develop as well as they hoped. Granted, they also struggled to develop Tyler Glasnow, Gerrit Cole, and Joe Musgrove but that was another regime. Surely Kennedy and Hartle won’t become that. Right?

Anyway, this is a solid deal for Pittsburgh but doesn’t do much to make them contenders.

Why would the Toronto Blue Jays make this deal?

Realistically, the Blue Jays are desperate. They were supposed to be the future of the AL East just a few seasons ago but Bo Bichette has regressed, their pitching staff is aging, and they haven’t been able to find any impactful offensive pieces to join Vladimir Guerrero Jr. They need to convince Vlad Jr. to re-sign, but they also need to show that this roster and the promise it once held is not fully gone.

Giménez may not have altered his fantasy value much, but he’s a strong addition for the Blue Jays because he is a major upgrade defensively at second base and is a huge baserunning threat. No, he’s not going to change the course of a game with one swing, but he makes the defense immediately better and will put pressure on defenses when he’s on base. Considering the Blue Jays have the money to take on his contract, it seems like a smart move to make for Toronto, but one that likely needs to be the start of a string of offseason moves, not the main one.

Additionally, we should add that, even though he likely won’t be fantasy-relevant, Nick Sandlin is a strong reliever, who posted a 3.75 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings last season for the Guardians in 2024 and will make this Blue Jays bullpen a little stronger and deeper.