Andrés Giménez has been out of action for almost three weeks and there’s an argument to be made that the Blue Jays have become a better team without his presence in the everyday lineup.
Giménez hasn’t played since May 7 because of a strained right quad. He is currently working out at the Jays’ minor-league complex in Florida with the goal of returning to the big-league roster by early June.
The veteran second baseman should take his time because, as harsh as it may sound, he hasn’t been missed. Ernie Clement has performed better with the bat and his defence has been just as good.
Since Giménez went on the injured list, Clement was batting .306 with a pair of extra-base hits, six RBIs and a .751 on-base plus slugging percentage heading into Saturday night’s road game against the Tampa Bay Rays. In 15 games at second, his two outs above average match the number Giménez produced across 36. Clement also has more wins above replacement (0.9 vs. 0.3) even though he entered Saturday with nine fewer plate appearances.
Giménez’s departure created opportunities elsewhere, too. With Clement moving to second, Addison Barger has been able to get everyday at-bats and responded with a .327 average, eight extra-base hits and a .954 OPS over his last 14 games through Friday. Barger getting playing time at third also means Nathan Lukes has been playing regularly in the outfield, where he was batting .294 with an .890 OPS in May before Saturday.
Clement, Barger and Lukes have all proven to be more valuable than Giménez at a fraction of the cost. Clement is earning $1.97 million (U.S.) with three years of arbitration remaining before free agency. Barger and Lukes are making close to the league minimum as pre-arbitration players. Meanwhile,
That contract is why he isn’t at risk of losing his job. When he returns, the 26-year-old Giménez will reclaim his everyday role at second, which will push Barger and Clement into a time-share. Occasionally, Barger will start in the outfield, which will cut into Lukes’s playing time. These decisions won’t be made on merit. They’ll be based on how much money each guy earns.
“Gimmy will slide into a regular role,” Jays manager John Schneider said this past week, confirming the obvious. “It’s a way to use Ernie and Barg at third. It’s a way to get Gimmy some days off against lefties, if we need to, depending on how him or Addy are swinging it. It’s a good problem to have, and it allows guys to have a little bit of a breather. I don’t want to say straight platoon third, but you can definitely mix and match.”
Giménez hasn’t been an above-average performer with the bat since he was an all-star in Cleveland in 2022. He remains an elite defender, but as Clement (who joined the organization in 2023 on a minor-league deal) shows, those types of players aren’t that difficult to find. Equally concerning, prior to the Giménez trade with the Guardians in December, second base was an area of depth for the Jays with Will Wagner, Leo Jimenez and, to a lesser extent, Orelvis Martinez also in the mix.
Despite all that, the Jays appeared inclined to do a victory lap after Giménez was acquired from Cleveland along with reliever Nick Sandlin in exchange for first baseman Spencer Horwitz. Throughout the winter and spring, the front office went out of its way to say not enough people were talking about the addition. Before the end of camp, Schneider made him the cleanup hitter.
After a hot start in March, Giménez’s performance cratered. Since April 1, he is batting .173 with an embarrassingly low .440 OPS. That’s as feeble as it gets, and while the Jays should expect a better performance upon his return — because it can’t get any worse — their dreams of an impact bat should be permanently shattered.
The Guardians got in front of this problem. They signed Giménez to a back-loaded seven-year contract worth $106.5 million prior to the 2023 season and paid him just $10 million across the first two years, before trading him to the Jays in a salary dump. General manager Ross Atkins then did another favour for his former employer by taking on about $14 million remaining on outfielder Myles Straw’s contract, too.
Giménez is an exceptional defender who also impacts games with his speed. He’s entertaining to watch anywhere on the field except the batter’s box. Players like that are supposed to be on affordable contracts. Instead, he will be rewarded through 2029 because of one impressive year.
The Jays made a huge gamble by taking on a high-priced, glove-first second baseman when they were in desperate need of additional offence. It has proven to be a mistake, and might remain that way for the next five years.
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