Guardians' Jo Adell trade was perfect use of clear deadline advantage

While the Cleveland Guardians entered the trade deadline with some serious outfield needs, they had a bit of an ace in the hole in the form of their catching depth. 

And they cashed that advantage in earlier today by acquiring outfielder Jo Adell from the Angels in a one-for-one swap of catching prospect Jacob Cozart, who was playing at Double-A Akron. 

Adell fills an obvious hole on the Guardians’ roster thanks to his power and success against southpaws, and the Guardians clearly trusted Adell’s potential enough to part ways with Cozart. 

For most teams, catching is their organizational white whale just because of how tough it can be to develop talent at the position.

Coming into the day, it looked like the Guardians may use Cooper Ingle (another part of that catching depth) to go big fish hunting for an offensive upgrade. 

Instead, they use a more unproven depth piece in Cozart to get an established (but flawed) player in Adell. Even if Cozart ends up becoming a regular behind the dish for the Angels, it still won’t hurt the Guardians as much as other franchises given the strong catching pipeline they have behind their big league options. 

The Guardians inclusion of Jacob Cozart in Jo Adell trade showed off Cleveland’s catching depth 

It makes sense that Cozart would stand out to the Angels given they just traded catcher Logan O’Hoppe to the Rangers. O’Hoppe burst onto the scene in 2024 with a productive 20-homer season, but his production has fallen off a cliff as of late. 

 Tyler Heineman and Travis d'Arnaud are the Angels’ top two catching options, but neither of them are the long-term answer at the position, which is where Cozart could come in. 

Cozart has spent the past year-and-a-half at Double-A Akron, where he’s posted a .243/.330./385 slashline in 100 games at the level. 

But a lot of Cozart’s value comes in what he can do behind the plate. It seems like he’s going to stick behind the plate long-term (which is more than can be said for Ingle), and he’s drawn rave reviews for how he guides a pitching staff. 

It wouldn’t be a surprise if his career ended up looking like Austin Hedges’. There’s some value in that, but the Guardians clearly felt he held more value as a trade piece than a depth piece. 

But his loss is a blip on Cleveland’s catching radar thanks to Patrick Bailey and Austin Hedges being entrenched on the big league pitcher along with having Cooper Ingle and Kody Huff waiting in Triple-A. 

The Guardians first used that catching depth earlier this weekend to flip Bo Naylor as a part of a package that helped Cleveland get Craig Yoho and Blake Perkins, and they used it again to net Adell in the hopes he can fix their outfield problems. 

That’s how you use your depth around the trade deadline. 

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