Naylor, Guerrero Jr., Pop avoid arbitration

January 10, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Canadian slugger Josh Naylor signed a one-year, $10.9-million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday to avoid arbitration.

Mark Feinsand, of MLB.com, was the first to report the deal.

On December 21, Naylor was dealt to the Diamondbacks by the Cleveland Guardians for right-hander Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B draft pick.

In 2024, Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) registered career-highs in home runs (31) and RBIs (108) in 152 games for the Guardians. He topped all Canadians in RBIs and tied with Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) for the most home runs. Naylor also finished second among Canuck big leaguers in hits (137), runs (84), doubles (27) and walks (58).

For his efforts, he was selected to the MLB All-Star Game for the first time and was named a Silver Slugger Award finalist. The Canuck slugger added nine more hits in the post-season to help lead the Guardians into the American League Championship Series.

The 2024 campaign was Naylor’s fifth with the Guardians. After honing his skills with the Ontario Blue Jays and Junior National Team, Naylor was selected 12th overall by the Miami Marlins in the 2015 MLB draft. After tenures in the Marlins and San Diego Padres organizations, he was traded to the Guardians, along with fellow Canadian Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), on August 31, 2020.

Guerrero Jr., Pop come to terms with Blue Jays

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) and right-hander Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) came to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays prior to Thursday’s arbitration deadline.

Guerrero Jr. will be paid $28.5 million in 2025. This past season, the Blue Jays slugger, who was selected to the All-Star Game for the fourth consecutive campaign, topped Canadian-born major leaguers in batting average (.323), OPS (.940), hits (199), runs (98), doubles (44), walks (72) and WAR (6.2). The 25-year-old first baseman also had 30 home runs and 103 RBIs. Overall, his batting average was the second-best in the majors, while he ranked third in hits and on-base percentage (.396). For his efforts, he won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award, the Silver Slugger Award for American League first basemen and was named the first baseman on the All-MLB First Team.

Pop settled for a $900,000 salary in 2025. It was a rough year for the right-handed reliever, though he did make a career-high 58 relief appearances for the Blue Jays. The 28-year-old righty collected his first big league save on July 28 when he pitched the final 1 1/3 innings in the Blue Jays’ 7-3 win over the Texas Rangers at Rogers Centre. In all, the Junior National Team grad recorded a 5.59 ERA and struck out 33 batters in 48 1/3 innings. He also had a 1.54 ERA and four saves in 11 appearances for Triple-A Buffalo.