The Guardians announced they’ve traded non-roster outfielder Nolan Jones and cash considerations to the White Sox. Chicago sends a $250K international bonus pool allotment to Cleveland in return.
Cleveland outrighted Jones off their 40-man roster at the end of Spring Training. He therefore won’t immediately occupy a roster spot for Chicago. The Sox announced that they’ve assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Jones has spent the entire season in the International League with Cleveland’s affiliate in Columbus.
The 28-year-old Jones appeared in the Majors each season from 2022-25. He had by far his best season with the Rockies in 2023, hitting .297/.389/.542 with 20 homers in a little over 400 plate appearances. Back problems limited him to half a season a year later. His numbers plummeted, as he hit only .227/.321/.320 with three homers in 79 games.
Colorado moved on after that injury-riddled season. The Rox dealt Jones back to Cleveland, the organization that had drafted him in 2016 and with which he made a brief debut six years later. He spent the entire season on the MLB roster, aside from a season-ending oblique strain in late September, but did not rebound offensively. Jones mustered only a .211/.296/.304 batting line while striking out in 28% of his 403 trips to the plate.
It came as a surprise that the Guardians tendered him an arbitration contract after a second consecutive season of below replacement level production. The sides hammered out a $2MM agreement early in the offseason. Jones had a rough camp and failed to make the team out of Spring Training. He cleared waivers and had an easy call to accept an assignment to Triple-A so as not to forfeit that salary.
Jones is amidst a nice year in the minors. He’s hitting .275/.385/.460 with eight longballs across 226 plate appearances. He’s striking out a little too often (24.3%) but hitting the ball hard and drawing walks at an excellent 14.2% rate. Jones has had that “three true outcomes” approach throughout his career.
The Guardians are paying an undisclosed portion of the roughly $1.15MM he’s owed through the end of the season. The White Sox weren’t going to take on that entire sum for a Triple-A player. Cleveland takes the opportunity to get some amount of salary relief for a player who had clearly been squeezed out of their plans. The Guardians haven’t gotten much from their outfield lately, but Jones was behind the 10 outfield options they have on their 40-man roster.
Chicago isn’t actually sending cash. They’re trading $250K in space from their hard-capped bonus pool for international amateurs, which means the Guardians can spend a little more of their own money to add to their farm system. The White Sox seemingly don’t intend to sign anyone else of note before the close of this period. They also packaged $250K in bonus space alongside Derek Hill in their afternoon trade with the Phillies to add a couple minor leaguers.
Jones gives them some upper minors depth for right field, which has been an issue this season. They’re in better shape now with Braden Montgomery up and Everson Pereira back from the injured list, but they don’t have much depth in the upper minors. Jones would be eligible for arbitration for a few years if the Sox call him up before the end of the season. He’d otherwise become a minor league free agent once the regular season concludes.
Talk about a guy who looked like he might pull of a Bichette or Galarraga in Denver to go over a cliff.
Yeah, after that one banner year he went to zero and stayed there. CLE was lucky to get even $250K for him.
I hope this isn’t the only move CLE makes before tomorrow’s game. I like that they sent Jones elsewhere to avoid calling him up in the future which would demoralize the fan base. But the fact that Stuart Fairchild is still on the roster at this hour is organizational malpractice.
They have Arias playing RF tonight and he’s hit another HR. He’ll bring his strike out prone bat, occasional power and good glove to them for one more ride in my opinion. So goodbye Fairchild, be careful what you hope for. I’m no Arias fan but this is an improvement.
Saying Arias is an improvement over Fairchild is not a ringing endorsement. He’s about the only player Arias is an improvement over. He certainly could do better than .100
Teams looking for that magic again, but back issues seem to never go away.
Cash considerations are probably the rest of his contract for this season. Thay had to pay him anyway so Cleveland was glad to get the 250k pool money. Rare trade. Maybe the rule 5 return of Palette opened up the communications.
Strikeouts a little high, butj not a bad pick up. This is what Getz has been doing and itjhas worked. Stack roster with average and bettr than average battars, and watch things play out. Nishida i believe is better batter than Periera. Good move trading Hill.
The Pride of Holy Ghost Prep!
I really thought after his 2023 season he was going to have a solid career. I don’t think I was alone.
Nolan was part of that wild 2016 Indians draft: Will Benson, Jones, Aaron Civale, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac.
Only one is active on a major league roster
Bieber back so on.
Thought they were going to clear a spot for a MLB OF not one that hasn’t been relevant for years. Any chance we can get Hill back?
Reading comprehension
As one year with Rockies he looked like he was a fixture in Colorado. Disappointed for him he never got healthy again.
I remember thinking when he was with Colorado that he was going to be a real good hitter in the future. Didn’t think that his fielding was all that great but looked like a player who would go somewhere. What happened? Injuries or bad coaching but he potentially is a good pick up by Chicago.
What happened? Back injury. Hope he’s healing well enough to have a decent career! I thought he’d be a regular 20/20 guy after ’23. Injuries suck.
AAA depth piece in the face of all the recent promotions from Charlotte. Cleveland seemingly picking up most of his contract. Seems fine.
Seems like mostly there was nobody in Birmingham worth promoting right now and they needed backfill in AAA and this is at least someone with slightly interesting potential.
I like this move. I would even say an upgrade after trading away Hill earlier. I hope Jones carves out a role like he did in Colorado. He’s a fun player
Does Int’l Bonus Pool money suggest another deal is in the works?