The Cleveland Guardians and All-Star Andrés Giménez have agreed to a contract extension that will lock the second baseman to the Guardians through potentially the 2031 season, according to ESPN‘s Jeff Passan.
The extension, which will start in 2024, is for seven years and $106.5 million. The Guardians have a club option for 2031, as well. As Passan points out, the deal will buy out Giménez’s three arbitration years and potentially five years of free agency. He will make just above the league minimum in 2023.
The 24-year-old Giménez posted a massive 7.4 bWAR season in 2022 with a .297/.371/.466/.837 slash line, 141 OPS+ and elite defense at second base. He earned his first All-Star selection last year, too. The Guardians acquired Giménez from the Mets in January 2021 along with Amed Rosario and prospects Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene in exchange for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. If you ask both teams, they probably feel they won their side of the trade.
In 2024, Giménez can theoretically move to shortstop and provide the team a boost defensively there after Rosario hits free agency. If Giménez maintains solid offensive production and plays Gold Glove-caliber defense at short, this would be an extremely team-friendly contract in a world where top shortstops are earning $300 million contracts.
Giménez was signed by the Mets out of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in 2015 for $1.2 million. Over the next five years, he developed within the Mets system and debuted in 2021 after becoming one of the team’s top prospects. He showed enough promise playing as a regular in 2020 to become a centerpiece of the team’s trade for Lindor. He struggled his first year in Cleveland, but he showed his full potential a year later, culminating in an extension that will secure him over $100 million.
