Maligned Guardians outfielder could be playing his way out of 2026 picture 

At the beginning of spring training, Nolan Jones showed exactly why the Guardians can’t seem to quit him. 

With half of the Guardians squad playing against the Reds in one half of a split squad matchup, Jones slugged a 421-foot home run in the Guardians’ other split squad matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers. 

No one’s ever going to doubt Jones’ power, it was hard to remember that last season given how disastrous of a year he had. But that spring opening blast made it seem like that kind of performance would become a thing of the past.

It’s been more of the same, since, however. After going 2-for-3 against the Brewers in his spring opening, Jones has hit just .050 (1-for-20) since. Although spring stats aren’t the end all be all, those struggles aren’t great given that he’s going to enter the season on thin ice after his struggles last season. 

Nolan Jones’ spring training struggles are becoming too much for the Guardians to ignore

Last fall it looked like Jones wasn’t going to be back in Cleveland after he slashed just .211/.296/.304 in 136 games last season. Heck, he thought so himself. 

But instead, the Guardians made the surprising decision to tender him a $2 million contract for 2026 despite the team having a variety of young outfielders waiting in the wings. 

That exact topic was brought up in the newest episode of Terry Pluto’s “Terry’s Talking” podcast, where he openly mused about the Guardians’ decision to spend $2 million on Jones. 

As Pluto mentioned, $2 million is a lot for a team like the Guardians, who routinely operate with one of the tightest budgets in baseball. And he also hits left-handed, which makes him a bit redundant given that seemingly every outfield prospect in the Guardians’ system also hits left-handed. 

It’s perhaps the biggest reason why a right-handed hitting outfielder like Stuart Fairchild and Johnathan Rodríguez could make the roster. 

For most teams, cutting bait with a player making $2 million is the cost of doing business. For the Guardians, it could make a huge financial difference. 

Having Jones on the roster makes a little more sense when you consider he was one of the few options who could manage center field, but Steven Kwan has made it known that he’s willing to take on that task. 

Jones seems destined to carry on the Guardians’ legacy of being a veteran who makes the Opening Day roster by virtue of finances, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll have as much of a leash as he had last season.