Calls For Josh Naylor, Guardians Contract Extension Growing Louder

Josh Naylor deserving of a contract extension, but will the Cleveland Guardians give him one?

The Cleveland Guardians aren’t the type of organization to hand out contract extensions to just any player. Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, and Emmanuel Clase all rightfully earned theirs. (We’re just going to ignore the Myles Straw deal for right now.)

Each player earned their extensions and is an obvious piece to the Guardians’ future. Now, the calls are growing louder for the organization to lock up another player for the foreseeable future.

Josh Naylor is a special player both in his ability and his charisma. Not many players are willing to headbutt their manager after a walk-off or clobbering their head with a bat after hitting a home run. But that’s just the kind of player Naylor is.

He’s not all antics though. Naylor has taken tremendous strides at becoming a better baseball player, which is something a front office should be looking at when determining whether it’s worth giving them an extension. 

Apr 8, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor (22) runs after hitting a single during the fourth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports

David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports

Naylor has completely changed the narrative surrounding him. This time last year, Terry Francona was criticized by the fan base for considering playing Naylor against left-handed pitching and this was a weakness. Now, Naylor has a 1.305 OPS against southpaws and has one of the best batting averages in baseball over the last calendar year.

Fans have made it pretty clear on social media that they want to see the front office lock up Naylor for the foreseeable future. The comments underneath this post from over the weekend are the perfect example of this.

As these extension chants get louder, President Of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti is downplaying the possibility of reaching any sort of agreement in the near future. This is what he said when asked about this topic during an appearance on MLB Radio.

“You know I won’t go into specifics on that because I just don’t think it’s helpful for either the player or our relationship with them. We prefer to keep those things private,” said Antonetti. 

Zack Meisel of the Athletic reported back in March that the Guardians had spoken with a few players about contract extensions. Whether Naylor was one of those remains unknown, but he certainly falls into the category that would make sense. 

Cleveland has historically used spring training as their time to negotiate extensions and was obviously past that point in the calendar year. Naylor has proven time and time again how important he is for Jose Ramirez, the rest of the team, and their clubhouse spirit. Making an exception to this philosophy to guarantee a player of Naylor’s caliber and leadership is around feels like a logical decision.