By Tim Stebbins @tim_stebbins

March 22, 2025

Nolan Jones is headed back to where it all started. Saturday evening, the Guardians announced they have acquired the 26-year-old outfielder from the Rockies in exchange for utility man Tyler Freeman.

TRADE DETAILS

CLE receives: OF Nolan Jones
COL receives: UTIL Tyler Freeman

The trade reunites the Guardians with Jones, whom they selected in the second round (55th overall) of the 2016 MLB Draft. Jones spent his first six professional seasons in the Cleveland organization before being traded to Colorado on Nov. 15, 2022, in exchange for Juan Brito. (Brito is currently ranked as the Guardians’ No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline).

“I spent my first seven years of professional baseball with the Cleveland Guardians organization,” Jones told MLB.com Rockies reporter Thomas Harding. “I created a lot of, obviously, lifelong friendships and people I consider family. To be heading back there is super exciting for me.”

It’s an intriguing addition with upside for the Guardians. Although Jones is coming off a tough 2024 season with the Rockies, he showed big-time power in ‘23, when he finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting.

In 2023, Jones slashed .297/.389/.542 and hit 22 doubles and 20 homers with 62 RBIs in just 106 games. Last season, when he was limited to 79 games amid two stints on the 10-day injured list with a low back strain, he compiled a .227/.321/.320 slash line with three homers.






Jones is out of Minor League options, and it is not immediately clear what his addition means for the Guardians’ outfield picture. Cleveland has All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner Steven Kwan in left field, Lane Thomas in center and the left-handed-hitting Will Brennan and right-handed-hitting Jhonkensy Noel in right.

Jones has made his most appearances in left field during his MLB career (129), but he also has played right (56), DH (11), first base (10), center (five) and third base (one).

Freeman was among a handful of players who received reps at second base this spring. The 25-year-old appeared set to claim a spot on Cleveland’s Opening Day roster as someone who could play multiple positions. Freeman has played every position other than right field over a 206-game sample with the Guardians, after he made his MLB debut on Aug. 3, 2022.

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Vogt says that Brennan's role is being reevaluated. If he is returned to Columbus with his final option they'll have room to add someone back to the roster. Martinez could be brought back but he'd probably do better with everyday work in AAA. Will Wilson had a good spring and could be a 26th man until some other move is made in the future.

I'm pretty excited about Nolan.

Vince Velasquez, Kolby Allard play the waiting game as Guardians bow to Reds, 13-2

Updated: Mar. 23, 2025, 7:19 p.m.|Published: Mar. 23, 2025, 6:25 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
GOODYEAR, Arizona — Vince Velasquez has enjoyed his time with the Guardians. Whether it continues or ends will be known in the next day or two.

Velasquez made his first start of the spring Sunday. He did so on the third-last game of the exhibition season, which tells you something about his standing on the team.

The Guardians lost to the Reds, 13-2, but Velasquez pitched reasonably well in his two innings. He allowed two runs, but with the exception of a wayward route taken by left fielder Ralphy Velazquez on Elly De La Cruz’s fly ball in the first inning, he may have held the Reds scoreless.

Velasquez and Kolby Allard, who followed him to the mound on Sunday, have “upwardly mobile” clauses in their contracts after coming to camp on minor league deals. It allows them, as of Saturday, to join another team if that team has an opening on its 40-man roster. The Guardians would have to offer them the same kind of position to keep them.

If they do stay with the Guardians, they would have to go to the minors. They’ve already been told that they will not open the season with the big-league club.

“Going to another team is an option,” said Velasquez, after his start. “Staying with Cleveland and going to Triple-A is also an option. Right now it’s a waiting game.”

Velasquez (0-1, 5.63) missed last season with Pittsburgh as he recovered from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be more appreciative and grateful to this organization,” said Velasquez, “to take a whole year off and come into an organization that is very adamant about your health.

“I think I landed in a really good spot. My hopes and everything else is with this organization. I really like what they have going. Ever since the beginning of spring the communication and transparency was addressed ... and it has been reciprocated.”

Velasquez made only four appearances in Cactus League games this year after coming down with the flu.

“Unfortunately, I was put on hold (because of the flu),” said Velasquez.

Allard was working on a near-perfect spring. In his first six appearances, he struck out 10, walked two and allowed two earned runs in 13 1/3 innings (1.35). But the Cactus League gods, plus another strange route by Velazquez, Cleveland’s first-round draft pick in 2023, caught up with Allard on Sunday.

He allowed eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings. The Reds did most of that damage in a seven-run second inning. A two-run double by Austin Hays, a two-run homer by Gavin Lux and a two-run double by Jake Fraley were the big hits of the inning.

“Today Kolby’s command may have been off just a tick, but again some tough luck led to some bigger innings,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “Kolby had a great spring.”

As to whether Velasquez and Allard will stay or go, Vogt said, “We’ll know in the next few days. We’d love to have both of them.”

Velazquez, who had so much trouble in left field, is normally a first baseman. He accounted for the first of Cleveland’s two runs with a long left-on-left homer off Nick Lodolo to start the third inning.

“I don’t know how much time he’s spent in the outfield,” said Vogt. “But we know he can swing the bat. It’s been fun to watch him this spring. The future is very bright for Ralphy.”

Velazquez, 19, played at Class A Lynchburg and Lake County last year.

Sunday was the Guardians' last official Cactus League game of the spring. They went 11-17-1. The Reds, who broke camp after the game, finished at 12-17-1.

Cleveland was out-hit, 11-3.

Next:

The Guardians will play their second-last game in the desert on Monday night when they travel to Chase Field to play the Diamondbacks. RHP Gavin Williams (1-0, 2.92) will start for Cleveland. The D-Backs have not announced a starter. Game time is 9:40 p.m. EDT.

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Jones, Brennan, Noel: Who will open in right field for the Guards?

5:58 PM CDT

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- With little time for the dust to settle from Saturday’s trade that sent Tyler Freeman to the Rockies for Nolan Jones, the next question Sunday turned to right field.

The Guardians dealt the utility infielder who, just 24 hours earlier, appeared set to claim a spot on the Opening Day roster when the season opens March 27. The roster was so close to being set, in fact, that manager Stephen Vogt had told left-handed Will Brennan -- in position to platoon in right field with the right-handed Jhonkensy Noel -- that he had a spot on the Opening Day roster.

The trade reunites Jones with the Guardians, who originally drafted him in the 2nd round in 2016. The outfielder, also a left-handed swinger, was a Rookie of the Year candidate in 2023 when he became the first rookie in MLB history to post at least 20 home runs, 20 steals and 19 outfield assists in a season.

“Obviously, Jhonkensy Noel will continue to get reps in right field, and we have to sort through what the rest of the roster looks like here over the next couple days,” Vogt said.

One day earlier the skipper told Brennan an Opening Day roster spot was his.

"That’s now up in the air,” Vogt added. “There’s no final decisions that have been made. We just have to work through some things over the next few days. This was unforeseen.”

“Unexpected” was the word from Cleveland general manager Mike Chernoff, who said the whole thing happened in about 48 hours.

“We felt like it was an opportunity to add a left-handed, impact-type bat or with the potential to have that type of impact into our outfield mix, which we felt like we really needed,” Chernoff said. “So this was an opportunity we had to take advantage of.”

Steven Kwan and Lane Thomas will start in left and center field, respectively.

Brennan started in right field Sunday and went 1-for-3 in the Guardians’ final spring action in Goodyear, which resulted in a 13-2 loss to the Reds. In his three years with Cleveland, the 27-year-old has played 194 games in right field.

In 16 spring games through Sunday, Brennan has played 13 games in right field, twice in left and once as DH, slashing .244/.292/.422.

Jones, on Sunday, was already meeting with medical staff at the team complex in Goodyear, just a ride across the Valley of the Sun from the Rockies’ facility in Scottsdale.

He started his pro career with the Cleveland organization as an 18-year-old in rookie ball and went up the chain quickly as their No. 3 prospect. Jones made his big league debut with the Guardians in 2022, but that offseason was dealt to the Rockies for shortstop Juan Brito, who this past Friday was optioned to Triple-A Columbus.

“We obviously know Nolan really well from his time here,” Chernoff said. “We had a great feel for the player, which probably allowed us to act a little bit more quickly than we typically would.”

Jones made his first career Opening Day roster in 2024 with the Rockies. His average outfield arm strength of 97.7 mph was the second-fastest in the Majors, and his 101.3 mph assist on July 1 was the fastest outfield assist in the Majors all year.

Jones, however, struggled with injuries. Back and knee issues led to a slash line of .227/.321/.320 in 79 games last season.

Chernoff says the Guardians put Jones through a medical review prior to the trade.

“We felt comfortable with where things are,” Chernoff said. “We are going to have to manage his workload appropriately and make sure that we try to keep him on the field.”

With Freeman no longer among the Guardians’ infield options, Gabriel Arias and Daniel Schneemann figure to handle second base. Freeman had played six different positions in 15 spring games with the Guardians, and in 206 career big league games has played seven different spots (including DH).

“It’s not like we were out there looking to trade Tyler. We love Tyler and felt like he fit on the team,” Chernoff said. “But when an opportunity like this arose we did feel like, okay, this is another chance for us to potentially trade from an area of organizational depth for an area of more immediate need.”

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@GuardsInsider
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26m
Catching up on roster moves today:

+Optioned OF Will Brennan and RHP Andrew Walters AAA Columbus.

Also, both LHP Kolby Allard and RHP Vince Velasquezwill remain with the organization at AAA

Cantillo and McKenzie win jobs in the bullpen despite really bad spring. I understand McKenzie since he's out of options. I would think they'd prefer to have Cantillo starting in Columbus and give Allard or Mushinski the first look as the 2nd lefty in the pen

Now the roster is one man short; they will want another infielder; the two on the 40 man roster are Brito [who I assume they want playing everyday, so staying with the Clippers] and Martinez [full-time for him would make sense too, especially after a poor spring] who I assume gets the call.
For what it's worth, which is not much, since they have plenty of room on the 40 man with lots of 60 day IL candidates, I'd sign Will Wilson who had a good spring and clearly does not have a future as a major league regular, and if demoting home would require DFA would be not a big a major loss at the time.

Jack Vita

@JackVitaShow

While the #Guardians have not yet finalized their 26-man Opening Day roster, OF Johnathan Rodriguez is with the club now and will travel to Kansas City.

Stephen Vogt: "We'll know officially tomorrow... We can't make it official until we know."

Ortiz having a good game so far today.

Question, with the huge increase with pitching arm injuries, is it 1- because of wanting throw 95+ or this "spin rate" thing or both.