The Cleveland Guardians traded first baseman Josh Naylor to the Arizona Diamondbacks and quickly replaced him by agreeing to a one-year, $12 million deal with veteran Carlos Santana, bringing him back for his third stint with the team, sources told ESPN on Saturday .

Two months after losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Guardians continued to overhaul the right side of their infield. They had already traded Gold Glove-winning second baseman Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. On Saturday, they traded Naylor for right-hander Slade Cecconi and a balanced Round B pick worth just over $1 million in draft bonus money, the team announced.

After Arizona incumbent Christian Walker agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract with Houston on Friday, the first base market, which had been stagnant up to this point in the winter, kicked into high gear. Veteran Paul Goldschmidt signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the New York Yankees, and Arizona quickly moved on to Naylor, the left-handed powerhouse who made its first All-Star team this year.

Naylor, 27, will hit free agency after the 2025 season, and Cleveland’s penchant for moving players before they hit the open market paved the way for a deal. Naylor hit a career-high 31 home runs and 108 runs batted in as the Guardians won the AL Central Division this year. While his defense can be a liability, Naylor joins a Diamondbacks lineup that led Major League Baseball with 886 runs scored.

The 38-year-old Santana has been a consistently solid player throughout his 15-year career. He debuted with Cleveland in 2010 and spent his first eight seasons with the team. After spending 2018 in Philadelphia, he returned to Cleveland for two seasons before moving from Kansas City to Seattle and Pittsburgh to Milwaukee and Minnesota, where he hit .238/.328/.420 with 23 home runs and his first in 2024 Gold Glove won.

The deal for Santana, which is still pending, will pay him more than double his $5.25 million salary in 2024 and include $1 million in performance bonuses, sources said.

Santana’s market had accelerated quickly this week after Walker’s deal helped provide clarity to teams. He will join Cleveland alongside Cecconi, a former first-round pick who has a 6.06 ERA in 104 major league innings. While he played as a regular player, the 25-year-old Cecconi spent the second half of the season as a substitute.