TODAY: Jones accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
MARCH 20: The Guardians outrighted outfielder Nolan Jones off the roster, reports Zack Meisel of The Athletic. That indicates the Guards passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man count drops to 39. Jones has the right to elect free agency but likely won’t do so because he would have to forfeit his $2MM salary. Meisel adds that right-hander Hunter Gaddis and outfielder George Valera are highly likely to begin the season on the injured list.
Jones, 28 in May, seemed to have a breakout season with the Rockies in 2023. He had a 20-20 season that year in just 106 games. His .297/.389/.542 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+. He got some help from a .401 batting average on balls in play but it would have been a strong campaign even with more neutral luck in that department. On the whole, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.7 wins above replacement that year.
He has been far less productive since then. His offense cratered in 2024. The Rockies traded him back to the Guardians, his original organization, ahead of the 2025 season. Returning to Cleveland didn’t help him get back on track. He has a .218/.307/.311 line and 71 wRC+ since the start of the 2024 season and his defensive metrics have also declined. Despite the diminished production and the fact that Jones is out of options, the Guards tendered him a contract this winter. Jones and the club avoided arbitration with a $2MM pre-tender deal in November.
Jones also hasn’t had a good spring, having hit .152/.222/.303 in 36 plate appearances. Given the downward trend with his performance, his out-of-options status and his salary, it’s unsurprising that no club claimed him via waivers.
Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to walk away from their remaining salary commitments in doing so. Jones has three years and seven days of service. If he were to elect free agency, he would have to leave $2MM on the table. It seems highly likely that he’ll head to Triple-A and look to get back on track at that level.
As for the injuries, Meisel didn’t provide specifics but both players have been slowed by minor issues in recent weeks. Gaddis made just one in-game appearance this spring, which was back in late February. He then experienced some forearm tightness and underwent imaging, which came back clean, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. His timeline still isn’t clear. A season-opening stint on the 15-day IL can be backdated three days, so he could be back less than two weeks into the season, though that scenario is obviously dependant on him building back up to readiness in that time frame.
Gaddis has been a key setup arm for the Guards in recent years, with 68 holds since the start of 2024. He posted a 3.11 earned run average last year while striking out 26.6% of opponents and limiting walks to a 7.7% clip. For whatever time Gaddis misses, guys like Shawn Armstrong and Erik Sabrowski will move up to leverage roles in front of closer Cade Smith.
Valera was diagnosed with a mild left calf strain about a week ago, per Stebbins. Assuming he hits the 10-day IL to start the year, that subtracts him from the Opening Day outfield mix. If the injury proves to be mild, perhaps he could be back a week into the season with the three-day backdating, but his timeline from a health perspective isn’t clear.
Meisel notes that Steven Kwan will play at least some center field this year. He had primarily been a left fielder in recent seasons, with just one inning in center since 2022. Time will tell how often they’ll put Kwan in the middle spot but that should give them greater flexibility to work in other guys. Valera will be in that outfield rotation when he’s healthy. For now, Chase DeLauter, Ángel Martínez, C.J. Kayfus and Daniel Schneemann appear to be jockeying for the outfield playing time. Petey Halpin was optioned today, per Meisel, so he’ll start the season in Triple-A.
Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images
We’re finally going to get to see DeLauter on the opening day roster. Nolan looks completely lost. Hopefully he figures something out in Columbus but he’s going to have to get past Valera when he returns.
Agree on Jones. With the amount of faith Cleveland has put into him, it definitely cannot be for lack of effort either. I hope he can find it in Columbus.
I really thought Jones was primed to be a great contributor after his 2023 season which wasn’t a Coors fueled fluke.
I can attest that he looked amazing in 2023. I watched almost every game that year. He had an injury early in 2024 which seemed to throw him off completely. He never got on track after he came back. I haven’t followed him much in Cleveland, but I assume it did not go well there either. Hopefully he can figure it out because that guy has a cannon for an arm. It was so fun to watch him and Doyle in the same outfield. NOBODY was taking an extra base on them in 2023.
Kayfus has earned playing time. How is valera ahead of him on the depth chart?
Valera was putting in professional at bats late last season. They needed to find out about him but he’s always injured.
Both of them were actually. Kayfus had a .888 ops in Sep-Oct. Vs rhp both started. It’s only adding Hoskins and making room for Delauter that it looked like one had to go to AAA. I agree it’s a tough choice. Kayfus may be a better more versatile fielder.
Man, $2m? Tough blow for the Gourdians to have one of their highest-paid players down in AAA!
Not really. Two million is pocket change. He was insurance in case Delauter and Kwan had issues. They locked him up before Fairchild was in the picture. I don’t mind them spending a few million on a guy who can come up and the sixth outfielder and absorb a few innings.
I really thought the FO was gonna keep both Arias and Jones on the roster just because. Jones has been so bad since returning to CLE that keeping him on the major league roster couldn’t be justified. I guess we’ll find out about Arias who enters his fifth season having shown no improvement to date.
Arias will be claimed immediately if exposed. A real defensive SS is a lot harder to make it through waivers than a lost corner outfielder.
Jones being outrighted and Halpin being optioned would seem to indicate that they plan to carry Fairchild to start the year
I hope that’s right, although that would likely mean optioning either Angel Martinez or CJ Kayfus. I’d option Martinez in a heartbeat myself, despite his “great” spring. I don’t trust him against RHP, and I certainly don’t trust his defense in CF, but I suspect that’s where he will play. Fairchild is a far better defensive CF than Martinez is, and it’s a decent bet he’ll even hit RHP better than Angel will, so I’d carry him and keep Kayfus around. If you need to hit for Fairchild late, then you can move Kwan to CF. But in no world do I play Kwan most of the time in CF, which will only wear him out and yield (at best) league average defense in center while losing elite defense in LF. I pray Cleveland isn’t dumb enough to do that the entire year.
Martinez will be in left and Fairchild will be the fourth to start the year.
I’m dubious about the cumulative worth of playing Kwan in centerfield long term (or the ability of Martinez to play everyday, hit RHP, or play a decent LF) but the only way it makes any sense at all is to carry a competent outfield defender like Fairchild who can play CF well and can caddy DeLauter occasionally.
DeLauter going to be a regualr orrrrr?
If he hits at all, and he will, the boy will play, Sal. It’s been his injury luck holding him back. I have high hopes and aspirations for this guy.
Yeah I like him and have him on two teams. Fingers crossed!
I was listening to a Guardians radio broadcast last weekend and Tom Hamilton was rather negative about Jones, he said something to the effect that Jones had only a few more games to prove he belongs. But the tone of his voice was implying “nah, he’s toast.”
Messick made the team. Allen was optioned to Columbus.