BREAKING: Giants Trade Patrick Bailey to Cleveland!

May 9, 2026 | Latest Post, Out of Left Field

(Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

by DrLefty

I just got back from a lovely Saturday morning walk, which among other things allowed me to listen to Buster Posey’s interview this week with Alex Pavlovic and Kylen Mills. One of the questions was about Patrick Bailey, especially in light of the impending return of Daniel Susac from the injured list and the debut of prospect Jesus Rodriguez this week. In the past, when asked about Bailey, Posey would say things along the lines of “I told Patty to focus on his defense and managing the pitching staff and not worry about his results at the plate.”  Posey, a Gold Glove catcher himself who will soon be in the Hall of Fame, understands as well as anyone the importance of a strong defensive catcher for a winning team, and Bailey isn’t just “strong”–he’s arguably the best defensive catcher in baseball, he has two Gold Gloves already at the age of 26, and he should have won the Platinum Glove award last year.

But this week, Posey wasn’t saying that when asked about Bailey. He was noncommittal, saying that he’s “sure Patty would say there’s more in there” (at the plate) but that “we have to take things day to day.” Meanwhile, Bailey had only started one of the Giants’ last five games, though he did come in for defense late in a couple of those.

 

While listening, I was thinking about the roster as a whole and what a mess it’s become. It’s like nothing fits. And the catcher position kept getting more complicated as Bailey continued to not hit (.146 batting average, OPS+ of 16) and even has negative WAR for the season (-0.2) despite his defense. Before he was injured, Susac had emerged as a bright spot, with 11 hits in 23 at bats. Susac, you’ll recall, is a Rule 5 guy and must be on the major league roster once he’s healthy. Then Rodriguez was promoted on Monday, and he has five hits in his first 11 ABs. The Giants are dying for offense and they have not one but two young catchers who appear to be able to hit…but then there was Bailey.

Well, now we know. Bailey has been traded to the Cleveland Guardians for the #29 pick in the upcoming draft and for a lefty pitching prospect named Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson. There are three immediate implications of this trade, and they’re all good.

 

1. The Giants have strengthened their already-good draft capital.  

If like me you were wondering why the Guardians could trade a first-round draft pick, here’s the explanation from Jeff Passan, who also broke the news of the trade. The Giants not only get a second first-round pick after their incredibly fortunate bounce of the ping pong balls that got them the #4 pick, but they also get more bonus money. This is very good news.

 

2. “Tugboat” Wilkinson looks like he’s pretty good. 

The Giants do not have a lot of depth in upper-minors pitching. Wilkinson is already in AA and doing well there (1.59 ERA with a 0.92 WHIP in six starts, 36 strikeouts in 28 innings). As his nickname suggests, he’s a BIG boy and 23 years old. Here’s video of him from a couple of weeks ago.

 

3. The Giants have resolved one roster logjam.

As noted above, they were in an awkward situation–desperate for offense, two young catchers both hitting, and their Opening Day Gold Glove catcher not hitting at all. Susac is just days away from returning (and picking up where he left off at the plate in his rehab games in Sacramento). So now the future of the catching position is in the hands of two 24-year-olds, neither of whom was in the organization before last July. Susac, as mentioned, was acquired via the Rule 5 draft in December, and Rodriguez was part of the trade that sent Camilo Doval to the Yankees last July 31. They are both acquisitions of the Posey Era, and now the team has moved on from Bailey. It is quite the turn of events.

 

It’s hard to say exactly how this will play out. Since they got a minor leaguer and a draft pick for Bailey, that opens up both a 40-man spot and a 26-man spot, and Susac is probably not coming back for another few days. So for now, it will be Rodriguez and Eric Haase holding down the fort, and we’ll see who the Giants bring up for the active roster.  I could see a scenario where all three catchers stay on the roster once Susac returns.

We’ll see how it goes, but for now, the Giants have made a fairly stunning pivot from a first-rounder who was thought to be a franchise cornerstone for years to come and are putting the catching duties in the hands of two rookies who have 34 major league at bats between them.  It kinda sorta reminds me of when Brian Sabean cleared the decks for another rookie catcher by trading Gold Glover Bengie Molina during the 2010 season…

 

Other Giants Notes

  • I hope I’m not jinxing anything by saying that Rafael Devers appears to be warming up. He has an eight-game hitting streak, has homered in the last two games, and is hitting .348 in that stretch. I saw him smiling last night for maybe the first time all year.
  • Willy Adames had two hits last night for the first time since April 17, and he also hit a rocket that was caught at the left field wall by Bryan Reynolds. The Giants’ world would look a lot brighter if Devers and Adames started hitting.
  • Logan Webb may not make his start on Monday night out of an abundance of caution around his sore knee (this is per John Shea of the SF Standard). It’s unclear if they’d just push him back or put him on the IL; since the Giants had an off-day Thursday, Adrian Houser could move up a day and be on regular rest. Trevor McDonald would also be on his turn if Webb is IL’d and they bring McDonald back.
  • The Giants as a team have not drawn a single walk since Monday night’s game. Three in a row is the longest they’ve gone since 2009 (a notably weak offensive team in its own right).
  • I was going to focus heavily in this week’s column about how well the minor league affiliates are doing, but the trade upstaged that. So I’ll just note that Baseball America posted stats showing that the Giants’ four full-season affiliates led the minors in April in win percentage, run differential, batting average, slugging percentage, and runs per game. In particular, the Richmond (AA) team is killing it, with a record of 24-6, which is a cool .800 winning percentage. They have a 7.5 game lead in their division and lead the Eastern League with a +78 run differential. My Richmond Guys are Jonah Cox (who leads the Flying Squirrels with a 1.204 OPS and already has 18 stolen bases) and Darien Smith, who was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Month for April.
  • Meanwhile, the rookie league short season got underway last weekend, and prized international prospect Luis Hernandez, a shortstop from Venezuela, is off to a very exciting start, having hit three homers in his first 16 ABs this week. Hernandez, you’ll recall, was signed in January for $5M, but was considered advanced enough at the tender age of 17 to come straight to the U.S. to play in the Arizona Complex League, bypassing the usual Dominican Summer League stop. He is the Giants’ #3 prospect on MLB.com and current #85 on the MLB Pipeline top-100 list.

 

 

 

Tonight’s Game

Pirates at Giants, 6:05 p.m. at Willie Mays Field 

Braxton Ashcroft (1-2, 3.02 ERA) vs Landen Roupp (5-2, 3.18 ERA)

“Braxton Ashcroft” sounds like a preppy boarding school name. We’ll see if Roupp can bounce back from a rough start in Tampa last weekend. We’ll also see who’s on the roster/behind the plate!  Happy Mother’s Day to the moms of TWG.

Here’s a final look at probably my favorite Patrick Bailey highlight. Condolences to the Crawnik family, especially Bailey the Doodle. Patrick Bailey was a good Giant, and while I won’t miss watching his plate appearances, there are some good memories over the three years he was here. Best of luck to him, now playing for another former Giants catcher, Stephen Vogt. Lefty out.