The Season That Was: Andrés Giménez
The Jays traded for Andrés Giménez (along with Nick Sandlin) on December 10th, 2024, sending Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell to the Guardians. Mitchell played A-ball for the Guardians, hitting .273/.386/.370 with 30 steals. The Guardians flipped Horwitz to the Pirates. He hit .272/.353/.434 for them, with a 1.6 bWAR. It wasn’t universally loved. Giménez […]
The Jays traded for Andrés Giménez (along with Nick Sandlin) on December 10th, 2024, sending Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell to the Guardians.
Mitchell played A-ball for the Guardians, hitting .273/.386/.370 with 30 steals.
The Guardians flipped Horwitz to the Pirates. He hit .272/.353/.434 for them, with a 1.6 bWAR.
It wasn’t universally loved. Giménez was signed through 2030, with an option for 2031. He’s to make $10,571,429 in 2025. $15,571,428 in 2026. then $23,571,429 the next three seasons. In 2030 it is $23 million. 2031 is a $23 option with a $2.5 million option for 2031. It seemed like a fair bit of money for a guy who hit .252/.398/.340 in 2024.
But then, most of his value comes from his defence, which is, like Teri Hatcher’s breasts, is real and spectacular.
And the Jays were coming into Bo Bichette’s last year under team control, and they wanted to have a strong defensive player waiting in the wings.
Maybe the team’s batting coaches could get him hitting as he had in 2022, when he hit .297/.371/.466 and had a 7.4 bWAR (not that the 4.0 he had in 2024 was poor or anything.
| Age | WAR | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | GIDP | HBP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 1.1 | 101 | 369 | 329 | 39 | 69 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 35 | 12 | 2 | 25 | 66 | .210 | .285 | .313 | .598 | 66 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 3 |
They didn’t get him hitting the way he used to.
Baseball Reference had him at a 1.1 WAR, FanGraphs at 1.0, giving him a value of $8.3 million.
Andrés had a .269 wOBA and a 70 wRC+.
His walk rate was up, 6.8% (from 4.1). The strikeout rate was also up 17.9% (from 15.3).
Giménez’s line-drive rate was up (22.4% from 20.5). The ground ball rate was down (42.6% from 50.3). Fly balls up (35.0% from 29.2). Moreof his fly balls left the park (7.6% from 6.3).
Soft contact was down (17.2% from 19.0), and hard contact was down (22.5% from 24.0).
Andrés hit right-handers (294/.350/.529) much much better than left-handers (.210/.285/.313).
He hit much better at home (.237/.307/.382) than on the road (.179/.261/.237).
He hit better in the first half of the season (..218/.300/.322) than in the second half (.195/.260/.297).
Giménez by month:
- April: .165/.258/.284 with 3 home runs, 10 walks, 26 strikeouts and 8 steals. in 30 games.
- May: .368/.368/.421 with 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts and 1 steal in 6 games.
- June: .208/.305/.278 with 1 home run, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts and 1 steal in 22 games.
- July: .545/.583/.818 with 1 home run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, and 0 steals in 3 games.
- August: .212/.293/.346 with 2 home runs, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts and 2 streals in 18 games.
- September: .182/.223/.258 with 0 home runs, 5 walks, 16 strikeouts and 0 steals in 22 games.
He was .253/.314/.347 with RISP.
Giménez was better in high leverage spots (.283/.324/.417) than medium (.243/.300/.342) or low (.158/261/.253).
Defensively?
He played 87 games at second base with 2 errors for a .994 FA (league average .982). Fanraphs has him at a +10 Outs Above Average (best in the AL).
He played 15 games at short, making 1 error, for a .985 FA (league average .975). FanGraphs has him at a 0 Outs Above Average.
As a baserunner he was 1.2 runs above average. He had 12 steals, caught just twice.
Spot in the Batting Order:
- 1st: 2 starts: .500/.500/.500.
- 2nd: 1 start: .143/.222/.286.
- 3rd: 1 start: .000/.000/.000.
- 4th: 19 starts: .211/.313/.380.
- 5th: 8 starts: .200/.250/.333.
- 6th: 5 starts: .056/.261/.056.
- 7th: 8 starts: .241/.313/.345.
- 8th: 16 starts: .170/.228/.226.
- 9th: 34 starts: .239/.300/.339.
I wonder how many players started a game at every spot in the order? Batting him anywhere in the top 6 spot is just wrong.
Favourite team to face? He hit .353/.421/.824 with 2 home runs in 5 games.
Least Favourite? He hit .000/.083/.000 in 3 games against the Braves.
Times facing a starter:
- First: .289/.352/.446.
- Second: .244/.310/.423.
- Third: .179/.233/.179.
Swinging at the first pitch, he hit .222/.267/.444.
The Jays were 52-42 in his starts.
His longest hitting streak was 8 games. Longest on base streak was 16 game. Longest without a homer 35 games. Longest hitless streak was 6 games.
In the playoffs he hit:
| Series | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | HBP | SH | SF | IBB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALDS | 4 | 16 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 | .313 | .333 | .646 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALCS | 7 | 27 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .261 | .320 | .522 | .842 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| WS | 7 | 32 | 27 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | .148 | .250 | .185 | .435 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
As you likely remember, Giménez hit cleanup in the first 11 games of the season and 19 of the first 22 games, which I still think is insane. He hit a home run in the first game, which bought him more run way and then had 3 home runs in the first six games. Then, of course, he went 35 games without a home run.
I don’t know what the reasoning behind putting him in the cleanup spot might have been. Maybe thinking that showing faith in him would make him better? It didn’t seem to work.
His glove, especially playing short, makes it worth having his bat in the lineup. But, not in that the fourth spot.
The ankle injury hurt his numbers. It cost him speed and likely a bunch of stolen bases. And it likely cost him some on the batting side of things.
It also likely cost him a Gold Glove.
I’m still not a fan of the trade, mostly because of the money he is owed, but then Rogers is basically playing with Monopoly money (actually, a small ‘m’ would have worked better, they are pretty much a monopoly). Pretty soon they will have all the money.
Hopefully, he’ll stay healthy next year, and we’ll get a better idea of what we have.
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