Guardians Rumors: Cleveland’s catching depth could end up dictating trade deadline 

Last month the Cleveland Guardians jumped the trade deadline line when they dealt Matt Wilkinson and a draft pick to the Giants in exchange for Patrick Bailey. 

And while their deal for Bailey has been a win thanks to what he can do behind the plate, it also brought some added complications to the Guardians’ catching depth. 

While it changed the tenor of Bo Naylor’s career (who was demoted to the team’s Arizona Complex before being added to Triple-A), it also put an additional roadblock in the way of catching prospects Cooper Ingle and Kody Huff, who are also at Triple-A with Naylor. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported on Thursday in his MLB notebook that rival clubs have begun calling the Guardians about their catching depth. 

While the Guardians dealing one of those catchers at the deadline makes sense considering they’re running out of room for all of them, Rosenthal’s report also added an interesting nugget about Cleveland’s potential trade approach: 

“Here, too, the Guards might not be in a rush to act. The free-agent market for catchers next offseason is so thin, the Guardians’ youngsters might be in even greater demand then,” he wrote.

The Guardians' catching depth could give them a huge advantage at the trade deadline

That catcher tidbit is a small part of Roshenthal’s blurb about the Guardians, which mostly focused on the team’s glut of talent at Triple-A. Along with having that extreme catching depth, the Guardians also have an abundance of outfielders in Columbus, which has made it hard for everyone there to get everyday playing time. 

They also have infielder Angel Genao, who has been productive throughout his minor league career but doesn’t have an obvious big league home with the Guardians. 

The Guardians have a (well-earned) reputation for hoarding prospects, but it’s hard to believe they’re not going to trade someone at this year’s deadline. 

Naylor makes sense as an obvious trade candidate since he doesn’t have a clear path to the big leagues after his latest demotion. 

We already pointed out how he would have been a good fit with the Braves after they lost Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy to injury, but they’ve instead decided to roll with Austin Wynns, Sandy León and Chadwick Tromp. 

But just because Naylor makes sense as an obvious trade candidate doesn’t mean the rest of the catchers do. 

As Rosenthal mentioned, this offseason’s catching class is incredibly thin (anyone interested in Mitch Garver and Tyler Stephenson?), so any of the Guardians’ young catchers could be an even hotter commodity then. 

Ingle (who has also been getting some work in the outfield) should make his big league debut at some point this season, but the Guardians still have an abundance of MLB-ready talent waiting behind them. 

The Guardians are always going to need to build from within, but sometimes the best way to take advantage of the minor league depth is by using it as a piece in trade talks. 

They have the ability to do so; it’s anyone's guess whether they will or not.

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