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Cleveland Guardians trade Josh Naylor, re-acquire Carlos Santana
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- Cleveland Guardians trade Josh Naylor, re-acquire Carlos Santana
CLEVELAND — Josh Naylor is headed to the desert, and a familiar face is returning to first base in Cleveland.
The Guardians have dealt All-Star first baseman Josh Naylor to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for 25-year-old right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi and a competitive balance Round B draft pick and signed Carlos Santana to a one-year, $12 million deal, according to a pair of ESPN reports . Santana's deal is still pending a physical.
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The Guardians have confirmed the trade .
Naylor hit 31 home runs and drove in 108 RBIs last season, both career highs. He opened the year on a torrid pace, earning his first career All-Star nod , but then saw his production slow in the second half of the season (.816 OPS in the first half, .717 in the second).
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Naylor was entering the final year of club control in 2025 and could have become a free agent a year from now, which made him an obvious trade candidate considering how the Cleveland front office often operates. He was given a projected arbitration salary of $12 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors , the exact total of Santana's one-year deal (if he passes his physical and the deal can become official).
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"Trading someone like Josh is really difficult, but in the end there are sometimes deals like this in which we balance both the present and the future," president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said on a Zoom call Sunday morning.
Carlos Santana signs one-year deal with Cleveland Guardians for 2025
Santana, now 38 and turning 39 in April, posted a .749 OPS last year in 150 games for the Minnesota Twins . He last played for Cleveland in 2020, when he led the American League with 47 walks in the 60-game shortened season.
Santana and Kyle Manzardo will be slated to handle the duties at first base and at designated hitter, at least until David Fry is able to return from elbow surgery (when he does, he won't be able to play the field for the duration of 2025).
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By fWAR , Santana, who also won a Gold Glove a year ago , actually had the better 2024 season, accruing 3.0 fWAR to Naylor's 2.3.
With this move, the Guardians are hoping to receive similar value with Santana for one year while adding Cecconi and a competitive balance-round draft pick for Naylor before he walks to free agency. Though, with Santana's age and the Guardians' need for power, it comes with some risk for the lineup.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Slade Cecconi (43) throws in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Chase Field in Phoenix on July 10, 2024.
Guardians trade Josh Naylor for Slade Cecconi, competitive balance Round B draft pick
Cecconi, 25, was formally ranked as a top-5 prospect in the Diamondbacks' system, according to MLB Pipeline. He's thrown only 104 innings at the major league level across the last two seasons with Arizona, posting a 6.06 ERA with 84 strikeouts in that time.
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The Guardians' No. 1 focus this offseason was adding options to their pitching staff. Shane Bieber was signed to a one-year deal that includes a club option for 2026, and the Guardians acquired right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz from the Pittsburgh Pirates on the same night they dealt Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays (reliever Nick Sandlin also was involved in that trade).
The Gimenez trade has left some questions at second base in the short run , though the Guardians can lean into their system's strength while boasting several internal options, including No. 1 pick Travis Bazzana once he's ready for the major leagues.
In essence, though, the Guardians have dealt the right side of their infield a year after coming three wins short of the World Series. As they often try to do, balancing both the present and the future comes with walking a difficult tightrope.
"It's challenging trading people like Andres and Josh," Antonetti said. "I think we all have grown to appreciate them as players, but I think it's also important to remember both of them came [to Cleveland] in trades, and very difficult trades. In terms of how we operate moving forward, there are times when we have to make difficult decisions involving very good players, but our goal continues to be how do we find a way to field competitive teams both in the near-term and long-term."
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Cecconi, who has experience as both a starter and a reliever, owns a fastball that touches the upper 90s, and his calling card has been an above-average slider that is complemented by a curveball and changeup. Antonetti noted Sunday that Cecconi will have an opportunity to compete for a spot on the 2025 Opening Day roster as potentially a starter or a reliever.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Josh Naylor traded by Guardians to Diamondbacks for Slade Cecconi
