Sources – Guardians trade Naylor to Diamondbacks, sign Santana

The Cleveland Guardians traded first baseman Josh Naylor to the Arizona Diamondbacks and quickly replaced him by agreeing to a one-year, $12 million free agent contract with veteran Carlos Santana, bringing him back for his third stint with the team, sources told ESPN Saturday.

Two months after losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Guardians continued to overhaul the right side of their infield. They had already traded Gold Glove-winning second baseman Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. On Saturday, they flipped Naylor for right-hander Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B pick worth just over $1 million in draft bonus money, the team announced.

After Arizona’s first baseman Christian Walker agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract with Houston on Friday, the market for first base — stagnant to this point this winter — kicked into overdrive. Veteran Paul Goldschmidt signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the New York Yankees, and Arizona quickly traded for Naylor, the left-handed hitting powerhouse who made his first All-Star team this year.

Naylor, 27, will hit free agency after the 2025 season, and Cleveland’s propensity to move players before they hit the open market paved the way for a deal. Naylor hit a career-high 31 home runs and drove in 108 runs as the Guardians won the AL Central division this year. While his defense may be a liability, Naylor joins a Diamondbacks lineup that led Major League Baseball with 886 runs.

Santana, 38, has been a consistently solid player during his 15-year career. He debuted with Cleveland in 2010 and spent his first eight seasons with the team. After spending 2018 in Philadelphia, he returned to Cleveland for two seasons before bouncing from Kansas City to Seattle to Pittsburgh to Milwaukee to Minnesota, where he hit .238/.328/.420 with 23 home runs and won his first Gold Glove in 2024.

The deal for Santana, who is awaiting a physical, will pay him more than double his $5.25 million salary in 2024 and includes $1 million in performance bonuses, sources said.

Santana’s market had accelerated rapidly this week after Walker’s deal helped give teams clarity. He joins Cleveland along with Cecconi, a former first-round pick who has a 6.06 ERA in 104 major league innings. While emerging as a starter, the 25-year-old Cecconi spent the second half of this season as a substitute.