Guardians Executive Talks Financial Flexibility Following Recent Trade

Where will the Cleveland Guardians spend the money that was owed to Andres Gimenez before he was traded?

Mar 30, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians equipment sits in front of the dugout before the game against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

This Cleveland Guardians team looks much different than it did just a few weeks ago. Andres Gimenez, their Platinum Glove second baseman, is no longer on the roster, and that void must be filled.

However, one of the biggest talking points following this trade is the roughly $95 million Cleveland cleared of those books.

Chris Antonetti, Cleveland's President of Baseball Operations, appeared on 92.3 The Fan on Wednesday afternoon and discussed multiple offseason topics.

One of those topics was the Gimenez trade and what the Guardians can now do with their financial flexibility.

"Well, there's two different components to that. There's the near-term of what [Gimenez's] salary was this year, but just also the out years beyond that. Exactly what that looks like, I'm not quite sure. It'll depend on what opportunities are available to us. But our goal is to build a winning team in 2025 and continue to do that for the foreseeable future, and that's how we look at it," said Antonetti.

"Where the additional investment might come from, whether that's extensions for guys internally, additoinal acquisitions through trades or free agents, we have opportunities to pursue all of those avenues."

"We want to make sure that we aren't bringing people that will impede those opportunities for some of the young guys that we think are capable of really contributing"#Guardians Chris Antonetti with @afternoon923FAN on where this team will invest this offseason pic.twitter.com/6BYoYFEt7I

— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) December 18, 2024

While Antonetti did not guarantee where the money would go, he left the door open for the team to use it to make roster upgrades this winter if the opportunity is there.

These comments from Wednesday also line up with what the Cleveland executive said last week about the front office being able to "reallocate" the funds.

The Guardians' next moves this offseason are still a mystery.

However, the front office must make more moves to bring in another starting pitcher or a proven big league hitter if the team wants to be considered a true World Series contender in 2025.