Last March the Cleveland Guardians restructured their outfield picture by trading utility player Tyler Freeman to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Nolan Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While neither Jones or Freeman were huge names at the time, the trade still stood out for a variety of reasons. Not only were the Guardians able to make a trade with the normally-insular Rockies, but they were also able to reunite with Jones (a former Guardians top prospect) for the cost of a player who was redundant on their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, a little more than a year later, it\u2019s clearly evolved into a trade the Guardians would take back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After struggling for all of 2025, the Guardians outrighted Jones off their roster at the end of spring training despite still being on the hook for his $2 million salary in 2026 while Freeman has played well for the Rockies this season<\/a> after starting the season on the injured list with back tightness.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guardians\u2019 trade of Tyler Freeman isn\u2019t aging very well\u00a0<\/p>\n Freeman\u2019s 2026 campaign got off to a late start due to back tightness that plagued him for most of spring training. But, in the time since he made his season debut at the start of April and has gone 2-for-5 with a RBI and stolen base in two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n He wasted no time making an impression thanks to a pinch-hit, go-ahead single in the ninth inning against the Blue Jays.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n WELCOME BACK TYLER \ud83d\udc4b pic.twitter.com\/hfs08ohhAS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n While that\u2019s about the smallest sample size you can have, he\u2019s on the Rockies\u2019 big league roster, which is more than the Guardians can say about Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guardians gave Jones plenty of chances last year, but he hit just .211 in 136 games before missing the postseason due to an oblique injury. Despite that lackluster performance, the Guardians\u2019 front office still decided to commit $2 million to him <\/a>for 2026 as opposed to non-tendering him.\u00a0<\/p>\n That decision\u2019s aged like milk, as the Guardians ended up outrighting him off the roster after he hit just .152 in 12 games in spring training.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019s played well in Triple-A<\/a> (three home runs in nine games), but he has an uphill battle to return to the Guardians\u2019 roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Freeman posted .281\/.354\/.361 slashline last year with two home runs, 31 RBI and 18 stolen bases. While he was worth -13 Outs Above Average in the field (thanks in large part to Coors Field\u2019s spacious outfield), he was productive at the plate<\/a> thanks to a contact-based skillset.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sure, Freeman was the third-best utility player on the Guardians\u2019 roster, but he hit right-handed and was serviceable enough in the outfield after coming up as an infielder.\u00a0<\/p>\n The biggest thing to watch with him will be his health, as he was a late scratch from the Rockies\u2019 lineup on Sunday after his back tightness popped up again, so it seems like that\u2019s something he\u2019s going to need to manage all season.\u00a0<\/p>\n New #Rockies<\/a> lineup. Tyler Freeman scratched with low back tightness pic.twitter.com\/XsvRCakTcF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Patrick Saunders (@psaundersdp) April 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n But regardless of how much that\u2019s going to impact him, it\u2019s going to take a lot for this trade to look like anything but a loss for the Guardians.\u00a0<\/p>\n