The Guardians are in an Odd Place Heading Into 2025

For a team that values baserunning and defense, letting Gimenez go is a move that seems counterproductive. His multiple Gold Glove seasons have already been mentioned, but he also stole 30 bases in each of the last two seasons.

Top 10 prospect Juan Brito seems most likely to eventually take over Gimenez’s second base position. But while he be somewhat of an upgrade on offense, he brings more average speed and defense, those two areas that the team has valued.

While Naylor didn’t help as much in either of those two areas, he certainly was a run producer, putting up an OPS+ of 118 or better in each of the last three seasons and going for 31 homers and 108 RBIs last year alone.

What Pieces are Left?

The Guardians have youngsters like Kyle Manzardo and Jhonkensy Noel who can help fill in now that Naylor is gone and also signed Carlos Santana in free agency to play the position. Still, for a team that was average on offense, that’s a lot of production to lose.

And speaking of lost production, Cleveland will be missing even more of that as late-season hero David Fry had surgery in the offseason that will cause him to miss the beginning of the 2025 season. When he does come back, it’ll be only for DH duties.

As for that below average rotation, things are set to look very similar to last year. Tanner Bibee, Ben Lively, Gavin Williams, and Triston McKenzie, who combined for a 4.06 ERA in 92 starts in 2024, all appear ready to return to the rotation in 2025.