Starting second base job wide open for Cleveland Guardians

A storyline that very few expected to exist when the season ended was who the starting second baseman for the Cleveland Guardians would be in 2025. That all changed when the Guardians traded Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays, subsequently creating a hole in the middle of their infield for what appears to be salary-dumping purposes and nothing more. But with Gimenez now gone, who will take his place?

Trying to get an answer to that question is not easy, even Guardians manager Stephen Vogt is not sure who that will be at this time. Vogt was recently quoted as saying "We don’t have a front-runner. We don’t have an idea or a pipe dream, so to speak", and would later note the possible options for Cleveland being Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Angel Martinez, Daniel Schneemann, and Juan Brito, in that order.

The order they were named might not matter at all when it comes to who might be Cleveland's starting second baseman on Opening Day, but it is at least something to monitor moving forward as they attempt to sort out who will succeed Gimenez in the infield.

Evaluating the second base candidates

When attempting to figure out who they might go with, it is important to note the other roles that some of the names also have, in addition to making appearances at second. Freeman and Schneemann both seemed best suited to be utility players moving around the diamond rather than sticking at one position. This eliminates two.

Martinez is another player who saw time at multiple positions, but it is worth noting that most of his time in the minors was spent at second, followed by shortstop. This could point toward Martinez possibly being given an opportunity to win the second base job outright rather than be stuck in a timeshare with several others.

Brito might be the best option among the bunch listed here, but he may not get the chance to be Cleveland's starter at second. At least, not at first. It seems like the Guardians will deploy a few guys early in the season just to try and sort through who belongs on the major league roster and who doesn't, eventually clearing a path for Brito.

When it comes to Arias, it honestly seems like his candidacy for the starting second base job is getting more attention than it should. Arias is not a major league-caliber player and the fact anyone cannot see that is puzzling. The only real reason Arias would start at second, or any position for that matter, would be to allow him to play himself off the roster due to poor performance. Letting this process play out, as ugly as it seems, is a necessary evil to churn the bottom of their roster, a group that Arias has shown he is a part of.

Who starts at second in 2025 is only temporary anyway, as the Guardians are just waiting until the time is right for Travis Bazzana to make his MLB Debut and hopefully be the future of the position for years to come.