I want to preface this by saying that elements of what I am about to describe are speculation on my part. That speculation is informed by things that we know to be true regarding the Cleveland Guardians, Josh Naylor and the relationship between both parties, but I don’t want to misrepresent what I am inferring below as fact.
If you follow the Guardians and have been online recently, you may have noticed that catcher Austin Hedges said some really mean-spirited and negative things about former Guardian and current Seattle Mariner Josh Naylor during Sunday’s game between the two teams at Progressive Field. For those that may have missed it, Hedges and Naylor were shouting at each other across the field as an inning that had included Naylor deliberately leaning into a pitch ended. Hedges was heard on the field mics shouting “No one likes you!… Your own teammates don’t like you!” with some other spicy words added in for flavoring.
This is a shock for multiple reasons. For one, Hedges is generally quite an affable guy. Being a great clubhouse leader and quality personality is basically his brand. The Guardians have kept him on the payroll and roster for six of the last seven seasons because of his ability to affect clubhouse chemistry along with being one of the best defensive catchers of his generation. The one year the Guardians didn’t have Hedges is 2023 and that season Hedges spent the second half of the campaign in Texas, where his charisma still gets partial credit for helping the Rangers to achieve their only ever World Series Championship.
Naylor, for his part, was well liked by the fans in Cleveland as well during his five-year run with the team. I’d even go as far as to call him a fan favorite. At the same time, Naylor possessed an intensity on the field, in the media, and likely in the clubhouse that made him a special character in his own right. I do think that for the majority of his time in Cleveland, Naylor rode hard for his team and his teammates, and I mean that in a good way. I also believe that there are six days from all the way back in 2023 that provide some additional intrigue to what transpired on Sunday.
July 31st 2023 was the date of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline for that season. The Guardians would enter that day with a record of 53-53, but just a mere half game back in the American League Central Division, trailing the Minnesota Twins. Team President Chris Antonetti had a decision on his hands. Cleveland hadn’t been more than 2 games above .500 since they were 9-7 on April 16th. Yet, being only a half game out and having won the division the previous season, there was reason to think the Guardians should continue to compete for the division crown.
Instead, Antonetti and company made two moves. First, they traded veteran first baseman Josh Bell to the Miami Marlins for a wilting prospect by the name of Kahlil Watson (perhaps you’ve heard of him recently). Second, they traded starting pitcher Aaron Civale to the Tampa Bay Rays for near-Major League ready first baseman prospect Kyle Manzardo.
Beyond being two future-minded moves, the Manzardo trade was especially interesting because the Guardians currently had a productive first baseman on the roster- Naylor. Naylor would have two years of team control left following 2023, so a need to find his replacement wasn’t imminent. Many fans would have preferred that Antonetti find a way to work out an extension with Naylor as he had hit .256 with 28 doubles and 20 home runs in 2022 and was working on a 2023 campaign that saw him hit .308 with 31 doubles and 17 homers. A team with potential but devoid of offensive firepower seemingly could use someone that could produce like Naylor. Instead, it appeared that the organization was preparing for life after him.
I’m of the opinion that Naylor took that personally. The day following the trade deadline (August 1st) the Guardians would be no-hit in the second game of a three-game series against Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros. That same day, Naylor was placed on the Injured List with an oblique injury. The reaction to the organization’s decision to sell and regroup was visceral. The situation was concerning enough that Antonetti flew to Houston and spoke to the team before the series concluding game on August 2nd in an effort to try to smooth things over. Cleveland would lose the final game of the series against the Astros and head home to face the Chicago White Sox.
Two nights later, on Saturday August 5th, in the sixth inning of a tilt that the Pale Hose led 5-0, Jose Ramirez laced an RBI double down the right field line and slid head first into second base. At the conclusion of the play, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson stood over Ramirez, purposely being in Ramirez’s way as Ramirez tried to get to his feet. The two players exchanged words and, in what would become a famous altercation, would exchange punches, ultimately with Ramirez landing a round-house of a right to Anderson’s cheek, knocking Anderson to the ground.
During this conflict, both benches and bullpens would empty and the interaction would continue between several players for several minutes. Naturally, the White Sox were at a natural advantage in this situation as there were nine of them already on the field and therefore closer to where Ramirez and Anderson were at second base. However, the first Guardian off the bench and on the scene of the happenings wasn’t Andres Gimenez, who had scored on the double or Oscar Gonzalez who was on deck.
It was Josh Naylor.
That means two things. First, Naylor felt enough for his teammates at that time that he was the first to rush out there to Hosey’s defense (ultimately, to not be needed). That tracks with the intense character that he was known to be. Secondly though, Naylor felt well enough to rush out there onto the field, bad oblique and all. Mind you, Naylor was in the lowest 15 percent of ballplayers in sprint speed in 2023. He’s never been fast. He’s downright slow. But he was out there for his guy as close to immediately as possible.
In a way, that’s fantastic and a great look on his part. In another way… what the heck? This is how you are expending your energy with a bum oblique? Was this just a bad decision, or is that oblique not as much of an issue as was let on? To be clear, Naylor would miss a full month with the injury.
To be even more clear, I want to say this outright: I don’t by any means think Naylor was faking an injury.
What I do think is that Josh Naylor wears his heart on his sleeve, and for a while, he was heavily committed to an organization that traded for him and gave him a chance in a way that neither San Diego nor Miami did before. He was committed to his teammates just as much, and that commitment was expressed sometimes very intensely, because that’s the kind of guy that Josh Naylor is.
But when at the 2023 trade deadline the Guardians essentially traded for his replacement, Naylor didn’t take that well… at all. We don’t know that he was one of the players who had issue with the trade deadline decisions, but it sure would make sense if he was. It may have also caused a change in mindset for Naylor for him to put himself first more. Perhaps instead of trying to play through a nagging oblique he decided that given the team’s decisions to not to commit to either winning that season or to him long-term, he would heal up.
2024 would be arguably Naylor’s best MLB season. He would hit .243 with 27 doubles and 31 home runs while playing a career high 152 games. Still, while Naylor has always been on the larger side for a ballplayer, his weight increased noticeably during the 2024 season, bringing up questions about his conditioning and durability. His OPS in the 2024 post-season, when he was at his biggest and was needed most, was just .531.
Beyond that, there were rumblings in the media that Naylor’s attitude had changed that year. He was more withdrawn and reserved in the clubhouse and towards the media. Maybe it was because of the Manzardo trade. Maybe something in the aftermath of the Anderson fight caused a rift. Maybe manager Terry Francona exiting at the end of the season and Stephen Vogt being hired played a role. Maybe none of these things are the case. The outcome remains the same. Naylor played hard and played well on the field, but he just wasn’t the same guy.
I’m putting words in his mouth, but I just perceive that he did not appreciate the experience that was that last year and a half with the Guardians. Naylor is a passionate guy, so he took it to heart. He let it change his demeanor.
Its even more dangerous for me to put words in Hedges’s mouth. He was not on the team for the ’23 deadline in the first place, but did return and play with Naylor for 2024. My perception is that Hedges would say something like “This is a business. You can’t control what the teams are going to do, but you can control your own behavior- how you interact with your teammates, how you handle your conditioning and your preparation. Be professional,” when considering how Naylor reacted in ’23 and beyond.
Instead, it came out as “Nobody likes you” on Sunday, and I think that’s a little harsh and probably something said in the heat of the moment. But if you ever listen to former players talk, they often talk with reverence about the relationships they make in the clubhouse in their careers and how much they miss it after they are done with their playing days.
To Naylor, the Guardians wronged him because he busted his butt for them and they decided to look another direction for financial reasons. To Hedges, Naylor wronged his teammates by taking it all so personally and allowing that to affect the brotherhood, and perhaps his readiness to play.
Or I could be entirely wrong. Like I said, this is speculation. I just think those six days at the turn of a calendar in 2023 had something to do with what transpired on Sunday.
Pick-Up Sports Talk: Cleveland 