The Cleveland Guardians are trading their tugboat for gold.
The Guardians are acquiring two-time Gold Glove-winning catcher Patrick Bailey in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for the No. 29 pick in this year’s draft and left-handed pitching prospect Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson.
Jeff Passan broke the news on X.com.
The trade could to strike an end to Bo Naylor’s run as the team’s primary catcher. The Guardians announced that Naylor was optioned to Columbus to make room on the roster.
Naylor’s served as Cleveland’s starting backstop 23 games this season. He’s slashing just .143/.200/.238.
It also could impact Guardians catching prospect Cooper Ingle, who is the No. 5 prospect in the organization and No. 84 overall player in all of baseball, according to MLBpipeline.com.
Ingle, 24, has a slash of .408/.597/1.352 in 49 at-bats for the Class AAA Columbus Clippers this season with five home runs and 19 RBIs. He is a career .288/.420/.880 hitter with 26 home runs and 151 RBIs.
He was taken in the fourth round of the 2023 MLB draft.
What the Guardians are trading for in Patrick Bailey
Bailey has won a Gold Glove each of the past two seasons, but is hitting .146 this season and is a career .224 hitter.
He was selected 13th overall in the 2020 MLB draft out of North Carolina State and is a switch-hitter.
In three-plus years, he’s totaled 22 home runs and 154 RBIs. He’s caught 85 would-be base stealers in 215 attempts and has a .992 fielding percentage.
Patrick Bailey contract details
Bailey is in the pre-arbitration phase of his contract for the 2026 season, with a salary of $2.2 million. Bailey is under team control and not eligible for free agency until 2030, with arbitration years ahead in 2027-2029.
What the Guardians give up by trading Matt Wilkinson to the Giants
The Guardians gave up crowd favorite Wilkinson, who was 1-2 with a 1.59 ERA in 28⅓ innings this season for the Class AA Akron RubbberDucks. The left-hander was a 10th-round pick by Cleveland in the 2023 MLB draft.
The 23-year old was 13-17 with a 2.82 ERA and 330 strikeouts in 56 career games.
The Guardians were allowed to trade the No. 29 choice because it is a competitive-balance pick, which has been movable since its inception.
The Giants will get an additional $3.27 million in slot value, bringing their total pool to $17.35 million, the fourth highest in the draft.
Brad Bournival can be reached by email at bbournival@usatodayco.com and is on X at @bbournival.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Patrick Bailey traded to Guardians who shake up roster with Bo Naylor move
Reporting by Brad Bournival, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
