Guardians' major trade regret looks worse as Pirates infielder eyes career year

Two winters ago, the Guardians restructured their roster by trading Andrés Giménez to the Blue Jays and getting a player return highlighted by starting pitcher Luis Ortiz and pitching prospect Josh Hartle. 

But, for a few hours, infielder Spencer Horwitz was a member of the Guardians after they acquired him in exchange for Giménez before flipping him to the Pirates as a part of the return for Ortiz. 

While the Guardians’ part of that deal has aged like milk thanks to Ortiz being placed on unpaid leave due to his involvement in a sports betting scandal, it’s looked even worse this season thanks to Horwitz's breakout season for the Pirates. 

Spencer Horwitz is making the Guardians look foolish 

Although Horwitz had a good season last year, he got off to a late start due to injury and only ended up playing in 106 games due to injury. 

But he put that in the rearview this season and has recorded a .282/.389/.443 slashline in 49 games. He’s been even better as of late, as he has a .323/.423/.523 slashline in 20 games in May with two home runs and 13 RBI. 

One of those homers came on Sunday when he mashed a leadoff home run on the first pitch he saw in his first leadoff start of the year. And it came against his former team.

“It was fun. Definitely one of my favorite homers so far,” Horwitz said after the game, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Colin Beazley. “To be able to do it back here, and to do it with a team that I’m wanted on, is definitely great. It seemed to get the guys going a little bit this morning.”

Horwitz had some success during his time with the Blue Jays but ended up becoming expendable thanks to their glut of middle infielders. Toronto was pretty much forced to keep Horwitz in the minors during his time there (he’s one of the best players in the history of their Triple-A affiliate), so they decided to flip him for a more proven commodity in Giménez. 

Horwitz bounced around the diamond during his time with the Blue Jays but has turned into a full-time first baseman this year.

Although the Guardians were smart to get out from under the (self-inflicted) anchor that was Giménez’s contract, they ruined any chance of it being a good trade by dealing for Ortiz. 

That wasn’t the case initially thanks to Ortiz finding his groove mid-way through the season, but it all went away once he was placed on paid leave. 

Even if Horwitz wouldn’t have been a perfect fit on the Guardians’ roster thanks to Kyle Manzardo being at first base, there’s an obvious sting there given he was a part of the return the Guardians gave up for a player who put a black cloud over the organization.

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