When the Guardians traded for Patrick Bailey from the San Francisco Giants and optioned Bo Naylor back to the minors, it created some logistical roster questions for the short and long term.

Another trade might have hinted at a potential plan to provide answers for some questions. Cleveland traded outfielder Nolan Jones (once again) to the Chicago White Sox for $250,000 in international signing bonus money for the 2025-2026 class (where most of the class signs by January 2026), and sent an undisclosed amount of money to Chicago to cover what was left of Jones’ 2026 salary ($2 million, about $1.5 million left).

Bailey is arbitration eligible for the first time heading into the 2027 season (whenever the pending lockout allows that to commence). So they don’t have to be committed to him by any means. But they’ve been trying to acquire Bailey for a few years and likely didn’t make that move to non-tender him after the 2026 season.

So, assuming Cleveland sticks with Bailey, continues to bring back Austin Hedges as long as he can contribute on the field, and has David Fry as a third catcher-utility-platoon role, the futures of Naylor, Cooper Ingle and Kody Huff seem uncertain at best.

Cleveland also had Kahlil Watson, George Valera and Stuart Fairchild in the Triple-A outfield at the time of the trade, along with Jones. CJ Kayfus bounces between first base and the outfield, and Ralphy Velazquez, who has since been promoted to Columbus, has had some cameos in left field.

Recently, Cooper Ingle got his first two professional games in left field in Columbus. He played some outfield in college at Clemson, but has been exclusively at catcher since the Guardians drafted him.

There may now be multiple position-player needs in Cleveland after they angered the baseball Gods or Jobu with injuries to Angel Martinez, Chase DeLauter and Jose Ramirez on June 13.

After trading Jones earlier this week, Cleveland activated veteran minor-league catcher Dom Nunez off the developmental list, which further opened the door to play Ingle and Velazquez in left field more, and Kody Huff has continued to play third base, with Naylor and Nunez available to catch.

Cleveland has always liked Huff’s defense and is pleased with his offensive improvements this season. The trade for Bailey clearly puts an exclamation point on how they value defense at catcher. Ingle was never going to get to that level, so now there is more of an opportunity to move him off the position and prepare him for another major-league role to get his bat into the lineup.

That door is opened further with Valera being designated for assignment to re-add Gabriel Arias to the 40-man roster from the 60-day IL in the wake of Ramirez’s injury.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this week that Cleveland is getting calls on Naylor, Ingle and Huff, so a trade could also provide more answers, whether it’s giving Naylor an opportunity elsewhere while trying to recoup some value and clear a 40-man roster spot, or using Ingle or Huff in a trade to add a missing piece to the major-league roster.

Espino called up

The big roster news from this week was supposed to be the promotion of Daniel Espino to make his MLB debut against the Tigers, completing a comeback from two shoulder injuries that cost him almost three full seasons and parts of two others from pitching. That was, of course, before bloody Saturday with the injuries. The Espino call-up was a bit of a surprise, as his pitching schedule as a reliever, where he was mostly pitching on 2 to 3 days of rest. He never pitched multiple innings or days in a row. Cleveland had said they planned to use Espino in the minors with a less regimented schedule as a reliever a month ago, but that schedule really never changed much.

They used him no more than on two days rest and one time they had him pitch the end of an inning and then brought him out to try to pitch in another innings, though he never got an out in the other half of the inning he was attempting to pitch. His last Columbus appearance was strictly three batters, 19 pitches (walk, hit, strikeout) and took him right out rather than work longer or through it.

It’s a case of watching what they do or rather what they say when it comes to transactions or how they use players. Espino has had control issues, which isn’t a shock after he missed the better part of three full seasons. However, he only walked two hitters over his final eight outings (seven innings) compared to 14 strikeouts. The stuff was back, throwing 95-100 mph at times and a great slider, and the control did start to get back on track. Either way, this is a great story for Espino going through serious surgeries, rehabs and losing his father to cancer along the way. Getting to the majors is a huge accomplishment, even more-so after what he’s been through.

Guardians prospect news and notes

• Speaking of pitching depth, more of Cleveland’s is coming and going. RHP Yorman Gomez, who was added to the 40-man roster this past offseason, has been out with a shoulder issue, but completed two rehab starts this past week (3IP, H, ER, BB, 4K, 3 2/3 IP, 4H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K) and should be ready to get to an affiliate soon, whether that is Akron or Columbus.

• At Akron, RHP Khal Stephen left his start last week after one inning. He was scheduled to start on June 13, but was placed on the injured list with right elbow soreness. Stephen isn’t on the 40, but could have pushed his way into an option behind Logan Allen, Austin Peterson and Gomez.

• LHP Rafe Schlesinger replaced Stephen in the rotation at Akron. His first start on June 12 didn’t go as well. He allowed six runs in four innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

• Luke Hill’s transition to Double-A has gone much better. He hit his first Double-A homer this past week and is hitting .344/.382/.625 through eight games as of June 13. Hill by far has been the most impressive of the 2025 draft class.

• OF Jason Chourio continues to see growth in the power department. After notching a multi-homer last week, he homered in back-to-back games on June 10 and 11. Chourio does have an OPS of 1.063 as a left-handed hitter vs. right-handed pitchers as of June 13. He only has a .619 OPS as a right-handed hitter vs. left-handed pitchers.

• RHP Braylon Doughty continues to grow, touching 96-97 mph over his last two starts, striking out 10 and walking two over 10 innings. He’s shown three fastballs (four-seam, two-seam and cutter) to his slider and curve, and has been executing each of them well lately.

• 2025 fourth-rounder Nolan Schubart is up to 11 homers on the year, five of them coming in June. He hit homers in three of the four games he played through the series with West Michigan as of June 13. A three-true outcome hitter (walk, strikeout, homer), the slugger also tallied nine strikeouts and nine homers this month to go with the five homers.

• While Doughty is surging, other members of the 2024 draft class that included five high school pitchers, including Joey Oakie and Chase Mobley specifically, are struggling. Oakie has 45 strikeouts in 39 innings but has 32 walks, as well as an ERA over 5.00, with three walks and three strikeouts over four innings in his most recent start.

• As for Mobley, he’s been moved to a bullpen role, throwing four innings with six strikeouts and three walks with three runs allowed in that time.

• OF Robert Arias, the top player in the Guardians’ 2024 international class, broke his ankle sliding into second base last week and needed surgery and is expected to miss a significant amount of time because of it. It’s a major blow for his development, as the 19-year-old was hitting .291/.397/.462 with five homers and 21 steals at the time of the injury. It also potentially takes him out of being a trade chip for the Guardians this year as well.

• RHP Will Hynes, Cleveland’s Comp B round pick in 2025 out of a Canadian high school, has been stellar in the Arizona Complex rookie league so far, save for one bad start. Most recently, he struck out seven in 3 1/3 innings with just one walk and one run allowed. He averaged 92 with his fastball, a sinker, along with a slider and changeup that generated a combined 12 whiffs.

• Finally, another name that appeared in that game behind Hynes was RHP Trevor Stephen. It was his first official appearance in the 2026 season since spring training. After his Tommy John surgery in 2024, Stephen came back last year with diminished velocity and control, finding himself removed from the 40-man roster despite his contract extension in 2023. However, in his 2026 return, he averaged 94 mph with his fastball on June 9, after being down to 90-91 from his 94-97 peak in 2023. He threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts and hopefully can push himself back to Akron or Columbus to rebuild his career.