Festivus Airing of Grievances: Cleveland Guardians edition

Cleveland Guardians Grievance #4: Ripple effect of free agency spending

There is little doubt that the salary dump deal that sent Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays was a direct result of the Guardians' decision to re-sign Shane Bieber.

The 2020 Cy Young Award winner signed a one-year $14 million deal for 2025 with a $16 million player option for 2026. The financial commitment to Bieber is a little more than Gimenez's during that period ($30 million to $26.1 million), making the connection here fairly obvious. It would be one thing if Bieber was going to be available at the start of the year, as he is expected to be out until the All-Star Break, and even then, his performance is far from guaranteed. For a team that is usually risk-averse, this is a risk they seem to be taking for little reason besides keeping a familiar name on the roster to appease the casual portion of the fanbase rather than looking to put the best squad on the field for 162 games.

And then there is the one-year $12 million contract signed by Carlos Santana. The news of this agreement broke shortly after Naylor was dealt to Arizona, so it was clear that the Guardians were working the trade at the same time as finishing the details of their free agent contract with Santana.

What this all seems to come down to is Cleveland trading Naylor's higher offensive ceiling for the superior defense of Santana. And while the trade-off does include parting ways with the somewhat injury-prone Naylor, Santana is more than 10 years older than him, and his time as an average offensive contributor could come to an end any day now.