Guardians' Tyler Freeman trade to Rockies for Nolan Jones is aging terribly

Billy Heyen

Guardians' Tyler Freeman trade to Rockies for Nolan Jones is aging terribly image

The trade happened just before the season began, a one-for-one deal between the Cleveland Guardians and Colorado Rockies.

Tyler Freeman was sent from Cleveland to Colorado, and Nolan Jones came back in return.

And man, it didn't work out for the Guardians.

The positionally versatile Freeman is raking and running for the Rockies. Jones has scuffled all season long for the Guardians.

On Thursday, Freeman stole his career-best 12th bag of the season. He's batting .328 with an .844 OPS.

Jones is batting .218 with a .626 OPS.

That's quite the difference.

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And if the Guardians had kept Freeman, they could've played him at shortstop when Brayan Rocchio stumbled earlier in the year. Jones can't play middle infield, though, so there was no such solution in play with him.

Cleveland has a lot of middle infielder in its system, and so it probably felt that clearing out Freeman could help solve the right field crisis that persists.

Except, guess who has started 24 games in right field for the Rockies? That's right, Freeman.

The Guardians' lineup was always expected to suffer without Josh Naylor, who is raking in Arizona. But it turns out the loss of Freeman has been just as crucial.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle