{"id":90701,"date":"2024-11-29T21:04:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T02:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=90701"},"modified":"2024-11-29T21:04:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T02:04:24","slug":"eloy-jimenez-silver-slugger-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/29\/eloy-jimenez-silver-slugger-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Up And Down Former Silver Slugger Headed To Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite looking like a star in the making to begin his career, Eloy Jimenez<\/a> has not launched into stardom. Now, he is looking for a new home.<\/p>\n

Up and Down Former Silver Slugger Headed To Free Agency<\/h2>\n

Eloy Jimenez came into the league and quickly made waves. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2019 and followed that up with a Silver Slugger award in 2020. His strong rookie season had earned him a big-time contract extension, and after his performance in 2020, it almost seemed like a bargain. However, Jimenez then fell victim to the injury bug and played sparingly over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Then, Jimenez had a solid 2023 but struggled in 2024 before getting traded<\/a> to the Orioles. With the Orioles, Jimenez was solid but was nothing special.<\/p>\n

After the conclusion of the 2024 season, the Orioles declined Jimenez’s $16.5 million dollar option. Now, he hits Free Agency, hoping someone gives him a shot.<\/p>\n

Eloy Jimenez Still Has A Spark<\/h3>\n

Prior to the trade deadline, Jimenez had hit an all-time low in his career. He was hitting just .240, had only 14 extra-base hits in 65 games, and was on the worst team in baseball. But then, the Orioles took a chance on him and traded for him at the deadline.<\/p>\n

During his first month in Baltimore, Jimenez was on an absolute tear<\/a>. He started his Orioles career by going 8-16 over his first 5 games, including 2 doubles and 3 RBIs. His strong performance continued over August. During August, Jimenez had a .296 batting average. Every stat of Jimenez’s raised during this month shows he still had the traits that made him a star at the beginning of his career.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HHOAaxCHUkI<\/p>\n

Despite such a strong August, Jimenez struggled in September. He went 1-24 before eventually being sent down. Clearly, his ceiling was still very high, but down the stretch, he was not providing what the Orioles needed out of him.<\/p>\n

What Will Jimenez’s Contract Look Like?<\/h3>\n

In 2019, Jimenez signed a 6-year, $46 million dollar contract for the White Sox. That contract came to an end following the 2024 season after the Orioles declined his $16.5 million dollar option.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Jimenez will not be commanding such a high price during his search for a second contract. He did not live up to the standard of his prior contract.<\/p>\n

This upcoming season, a fair deal for Jimenez would be a 1-year deal worth anywhere from 1-3 million dollars, with lots of incentives. Jimenez needs to prove himself as a consistent major leaguer, and this would help him do just that. This would be considered a “prove-it” deal; if he proves it, he is a bargain for the team he signs with. But if Jimenez cannot find consistency, then it’s not a big loss for whoever signs him.<\/p>\n

Also, this deal can lead to Jimenez earning a higher contract in future offseasons.<\/p>\n

Where Will Jimenez Sign?<\/h3>\n

Returning to the Orioles is unlikely for Jimenez. They have a plethora of outfielders already on the MLB squad, as well as plenty of rising stars in the Minor leagues.<\/p>\n

However, two other American League East teams could show interest in Jimenez.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox, who are pursuing Juan Soto, are certainly in the market for a power-hitting outfield. Jimenez would become a very solid platoon player for them.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Blue Jays could be a potential spot for Jimenez. He fits their win-now timeline well, and they have pursued many big-name power hitters over the last few offseasons.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite looking like a star in the making to begin his career, Eloy Jimenez has not launched into stardom. Now, he is looking for a new home. Up and Down Former Silver Slugger Headed To Free Agency Eloy Jimenez came into the league and quickly made waves. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5137,"featured_media":90715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,3,4,35,45,7],"tags":[1091],"class_list":["post-90701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-orioles","category-redsox","category-news","category-podcasts","category-bluejays","tag-eloy-jimenez"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}