Guardians Acquire Cody Bolton

The Mariners announced that right-hander Cody Bolton has been traded to the Guardians for cash considerations. He was designated for assignment a few days ago when the M’s selected Jesse Hahn. The Guardians transferred John Means to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot and optioned Bolton to Triple-A Columbus.

Bolton, 27 in June, has 40 innings on his major league track record at this point. Between the 2023 Pirates and 2024 Mariners, he has a combined 5.40 earned run average. His 20.5% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate and 39.5% ground ball rate are each a bit worse than league average.

The Guards are presumably more interested in his minor league work. After missing the entire 2021 season due to a knee injury, he has since thrown 153 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.40 ERA. His 11.1% walk rate is still on the high side but he struck out 25% of opponents in that time. He averages almost 95 miles per hour on both his four-seam fastball and a sinker, as well as throwing a changeup, sweeper and cutter.

For Cleveland, they effectively had an open 40-man spot. Means underwent UCL surgery in June of last year. He also underwent Tommy John surgery on that same ligament in April of 2022. He’s likely to be out until midseason even in a best-case scenario. They have used that free roster spot to grab Bolton and stash him in Triple-A as some extra depth. He has less than a year of service time and can be cheaply retained into the future. However, he has just one option year remaining, so he’ll be out of options next year if he burns his last one here in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images