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 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 outfielders 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 signing period at the end of the year. 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.
