The Cleveland Guardians are reportedly trading outfielder Nolan Jones to the Chicago White Sox, according to Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. Additionally, the Guardians are trading cash to the White Sox for $250,000 in international bonus money. Teams do not always trade within the same division, especially if they are battling for first place. The White Sox currently lead the American League Central by a half-game over the Guardians. Nevertheless, the AL Central rivals agreed to a trade on Thursday.
The Guardians need offensive help, but they still decided to move on from Jones. Jones, 28, began his career with Cleveland’s organization, but he was traded to the Colorado Rockies after making his MLB debut in 2022. He spent 2023 and 2024 with Colorado and even finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting during the ’23 campaign.
Jones ended up returning to the Guardians in 2025, but he struggled across 136 games played. He has spent the entire 2026 season at the Triple-A level, where Jones has hit .275/.385/.460 across 52 games played.
The White Sox have been one of the biggest surprises in MLB this year. As mentioned, they currently lead the AL Central. It seemed as if the Guardians would be competing with the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals for the division lead, but the White Sox have emerged as their biggest challenger up to this point in the season.
It will be interesting to see if Nolan Jones receives an MLB opportunity with the White Sox, and if he does if he can impact the AL Central conversation.
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