The first base market is moving. Moving is an understatement.A day after Christian Walker signed with the Houston Astros, and hours after the Yankees signed Paul Goldschmidt, the Guardians and Diamondbacks got in on the fun.
In the deal, the Guardians received right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi as well was a Competitive Balance pick in Round B which is currently slated as the 72nd overall pick.
But the Guardians didn’t wait long to add a replacement for Naylor.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired first baseman Josh Naylor in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2024
Let’s take a look at these moves, and the potential fantasy impact for all parties involved for the 2025 season.
Why did the Diamondbacks pick Naylor as the replacement for Walker?
Naylor was a first-round pick by the Marlins in 2015, and after a couple of trades involving Miami and the Padres, he made his MLB debut for the Guardians in 2019. He played mostly in a platoon role in his time with Cleveland until 2022, but he’s been a mainstay in the Guardians’ lineup since. He took a major step forward in 2023 with an .842 OPS, and he made the All-Star Game for the second consecutive season in 2024 after hitting .243/.320/.456 with a career-high 31 homers and 108 RBI.
And those numbers are backed up by the advanced stats. In fact, one could argue that those numbers in 2024 were a bit unlucky. He was in the 54th percentile or better in every “results based” metric according to Baseball Savant outside of chase rate (3.2 percent, 25th percentile), and even while swinging at pitches outside of the zone at a high rate, he still had an excellent 9.2 percent walk rate. He makes hard contact, he barrels the baseball, and as a player that will turn 28 in June, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’s going to be just as good or better in the coming years.
Why would the Guardians want to move on from Naylor?
There’s a few reasons, and of course we’ll talk about the addition of Santana in a second.
The biggest reason for trading Naylor has very little to do with his ability, but rather his contract. He’s eligible for arbitration for the final time for the 2025 season, and then he’ll hit free agency after the season. Cleveland continues to operate as a small-market club and will continue to do so, so they obviously felt better about moving Naylor now rather than potentially losing him for nothing at the end of the year.
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