MLB Trade Grades: Diamondbacks take advantage of Guardians methods in blockbuster

The Cleveland Guardians are who they are. They're trying to win World Series trophies while on an incredibly cheap budget. That cheap budget is why their best players are often dangled in trade rumors, especially when they approach free agency. I mean, this is the organization that traded Francisco Lindor away in his prime.

The Guardians are a team clearly trying to win now but are also trying to balance that with their future plans. With that in mind, the fact that Josh Naylor was projected to earn $14.2 million in his final year of arbitration before hitting the open market after the 2025 season made him a prime trade candidate. Sure enough, Naylor has been dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported that Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B pick are headed to Cleveland.

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MLB trade grades: Who won the Diamondbacks-Guardians trade for Josh Naylor?

With Naylor set to hit free agency after the year, the Guardians had a decision to make. They either had to ride the year out with Naylor and likely let him go as a free agent, or trade him now, to ensure that they get a return for him before he likely walked for nothing. They chose the latter, and their odds of competing in 2025 take a hit because of that.

Naylor has been a key cog in Cleveland's lineup in each of the last three seasons and is coming off a career-high 31-home run season. Naylor also drove in a career-high 108 runs, good enough for sixth in the AL. He struggled in October, but without him, their path to winning the AL Central wouldn't have been nearly as smooth.

They traded him away and received Slade Cecconi, a 25-year-old who, in parts of two MLB seasons, has an ERA of 6.06 in 27 appearances (17 starts). 20 of those appearances and 13 of those starts came this past season for Arizona, and he posted a 6.66 ERA in 77 innings of work. The Guardians have a knack for getting the most out of pitchers, but based on what Cecconi has done, this is a bit of a hard sell, even with the draft pick.

Getting something back for a player who might leave next offseason makes sense, and this is how the Guardians operate, but it's also incredibly frustrating to see a team that was just in the ALCS make this kind of clear cost-saving move.

From Arizona's perspective, there's a lot to love here. Sure, they lose several years of control for a starting pitcher, but based on what Cecconi has done, the Diamondbacks won't miss him too much. Yeah, they lost a draft pick too, but they didn't have to trade any prospects currently in their system.

In return, they got Naylor, a bonafide power bat who should fit in perfectly in the vacant spot left by Christian Walker. Naylor might not be quite as good as Walker, and there's always the risk that he departs after the year, but considering what they gave up, that isn't a huge worry right now.

The Diamondbacks suffered a huge loss on Friday with Walker's departure and did as good of a job of replacing him as they possibly could have.

Guardians trade grade: C-
Diamondbacks trade grade: A