A rare miss -- Guardians move on from Nolan Jones | Jeff Schudel

Nov. 19—Nolan Jones was once considered a top prospect for the Guardians, but as good as the organization is at developing players, particularly pitchers, sometimes they miss.

The Guardians traded Jones to the Rockies on Nov. 15 for minor-league infielder Juan Brito.

The Indians selected Jones in the second round of the 2016 draft.

The Rockies signed Brito, a 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic, as an international prospect. The Rockies ranked him 30th among their minor-league prospects.

The Guardians immediately added Brito to their 40-man roster to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft.

"For us, it was about the opportunity to acquire Juan," Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said on a Zoom call. "He's a really athletic middle infielder. He played most of the time at second, but we also think he could slide over to the left side and play some short and third.

"Really good switch-hitter, great command of the strike zone. He had more walks than strikeouts last year with some power. We felt that was a really interesting skillset to bring into the organization."

Jones played in 28 games with the Guardians in 2022. He batted .244 with two home runs and 13 RBI. He doubled five times.

The biggest issue with Jones was there was no position for him on the Guardians' roster as an everyday player.

"We continue to believe that Nolan is going to go on and be a really productive major-league player," Antonetti said. "However, as we started to look at our roster composition for next year of where there may be opportunities for Nolan, maybe his path was a little bit less clear at this point.

"We thought it was a deal that made sense on a few levels. We could bring in a player that we really liked. Obviously, we had to give up a player that we liked in Nolan who will go on to do great things, but we just weren't sure we'd be able to provide him that opportunity here."

The Guardians have an excellent track record of trading for younger players and having them blossom in Cleveland. Use the Mike Clevinger trade as a reference.

This isn't close to the scale of the Clevinger trade because Jones did relatively little in his time with the Guardians, but the Clevinger-to-the-Padres swap remains one of the best trades in franchise history.

The Indians sent Clevinger and outfielder Greg Allen to San Diego on Aug. 31, 2020 and in exchange got starting pitcher Cal Quantrill, first baseman/outfielder Josh Naylor, catcher Austin Hedges, infielders Owen Miller and Gabriel Arias plus minor-league pitcher Joey Cantillo.

Cantillo, 22, is the only one in the group yet to play for the Guardians. He posted a 1.93 ERA in 14 appearances at Double-A Akron last year and was recently added to the 40 man roster.

—The Rule 5 Draft is Dec. 7. There was no Rule 5 Draft last year because of the lockout that began Dec. 1, 2021.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Rule 5 Draft process, here is the definition straight from Major League Baseball:

"Held each December, the Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs. Clubs draft in reverse order of the standings from the previous season. Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club's 40-Man roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons.

"Not every club will make a selection, but those that do pick a player must pay $100,000 to the club from which said player was selected. Rule 5 Draft picks are assigned directly to the drafting club's 26-man roster and must be placed on outright waivers in order to be removed from the 26-man roster in the subsequent season. Should the player clear waivers, he must be offered back to his previous team for $50,000 and can be outrighted to the Minors only if his original club does not wish to reacquire him."

The Yankees left relief pitcher Trevor Stephan unprotected in 2020 and the Indians selected him in the Rule 5 Draft. Stephan has become a reliable part of the Guardians' bullpen.

The Indians chose not to tender catch Luke Maile. Their roster is set at 39 players.

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