Breaking News: Guardians Trade Josh Naylor to Diamondbacks for Slade Cecconi and Comp B Pick
Wow
Well, the Guardians have now traded two starters from an ALCS finalist team:
Full trade, per ESPN sources:
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2024
Arizona acquires: 1B Josh Naylor
Cleveland acquires: RHP Slade Cecconi and a competitive balance Round B draft pick
Cecconi sits 94 with his fastball, he also has a sinker, slider, cutter and change. All pitches have been absolutely demolished so far in the bigs. But he is 25. So... we're gonna transform him into Kluber, I guess. The Comp B is nice if you're into that sort of thing
Mark Feinsand says the Guardians are likely to fill Naylor's spot quickly. I am very interested to see how.
I would say this trade and the return illustrate that the Guardians and other teams had a lot of concerns about how Naylor's conditioning broke down last year. Now we wait to see how the front office justifies removing their cleanup hitter a year after making the ALCS. I am all ears.