What should the Blue Jays do with this slumping trade acquisition?

The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the seemingly fewer and fewer MLB franchises that are blessed with the financial resources to sign marquee players and retain homegrown franchise players.

The Cleveland Guardians are on the other side of the spectrum, which is why they traded Andrés Giménez (one of the more expensive parts of their roster) to the Toronto Blue Jays in order to balance payroll.

That strategy has worked well for the Guardians' front office, which has a reputation for winning trades on the margin. The Toronto Blue Jays should be wary about picking up the phone when Cleveland calls after witnessing the early returns on Andrés Giménez this season.

What should the Blue Jays do with Andrés Giménez?

The Blue Jays acquired Giménez, a three-time Gold Glove winner, in a trade with the Guardians that also included right-handed pitcher Nick Sandlin in exchange for infielder Spencer Horwitz and minor league outfielder Nick Mitchell.

Gimenez was the headline attraction in the swap, he gave the Blue Jays an elite defender at the keystone and a solid double-play partner for shortstop Bo Bichette.

The main question on everyone's mind was whether Giménez could tap into that offensive upside that he had in his All-Star campaign in 2022 when he .197 with 17 home runs and 69 RBI en route to a sixth-place finish in AL MVP voting.

He seemed well on his way to replicating those numbers this year when he hit three homers, two doubles and five RBI over his first five games of the year.

Could he still lead this team in home runs at the end of the year? Maybe, but only because the team seemed intent on setting a new low in the power department.

Jokes aside, Giménez is hitting just .143 across his past 18 games, with three of his nine hits over that period coming in one game. At one point this year, Giménez was hitting cleanup despite having a career .706 OPS . He's now hitting eighth in the lineup, which seems to be a much more reasonable proposition.

The Blue Jays' lineup is in the middle of a generational slump right now, and they need all the offense they can get. If Giménez were in the Chicago Cubs' lineup, things would be different because there are other sluggers to help pick up the slack. That's not the case in Canada.

Giménez has an OPS+ of 60 on the season and is hitting just .190 in 34 games. While he ranked in the 33rd percentile in barrel rate during his All-Star 2022 campaign, it now sits in the low teens.

He also needs to improve on his hard-hit rate (15th percentile, 31.5%) in the hopes of getting it up to where it was three years ago (36th percentile, 37.8%).

A lot was made about a leg kick that he implemented in spring training with hitting coach David Popkins. The work with Popkins must produce results as the lineup needs to show improvement under the new hitting coach.

Popkins saw a lot of Giménez during his tenure as the Twins' hitting coach and likely was excited to insert the adjustment to Giménez's stance, but the Blue Jays' lineup needs to be better this year.

The bottom line is that Giménez is never going to be a classic power hitter, and it would be unwise to think of him as one considering he's never hit more than 17 home runs in a single season.

His strikeout rate of 19.1% this season is a little elevated from his career number of 18.8%, but it's worth noting that his walk rate is a much more robust 7.4%, which is nearly two percent higher than his career mark.

Giménez fits into the lineup a lot better if everyone else on the team is pulling their weight. He shouldn't be the team's main power option, but instead should be a solid option at the bottom of the lineup. He's still only 26 and the defense has always been there so there's still room for him to improve.

Like it or not, Giménez is also a safety blanket in the event thatBo Bichette departs in free agency this winter. Bichette's future with the Blue Jays is a little hazy and Giménez came up as a shortstop, so he'd be a natural option to shift over to short if Bichette leaves.

The Blue Jays will be a deadlier team is Giménez can start producing at a league-average clip. He's already one of the best defenders in baseball; anything he produces at the plate should be considered extra.

He still too much potential for the Blue Jays to give up on him.