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EMERGENCY PODCAST: Patrick Bailey Traded to the Guardians
17 Plays2 months ago
In a shocking move, Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey traded two time gold glove winner Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians for AA RHP Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson and for the 29th draft pick. Bailey has been struggling offensively but had yet to be optioned to AAA to work on his swing. What message does this send to the rest of the team? Will this early move help the team or end better than the early trades from last year?
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Transcript
Bailey Traded to Cleveland
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello, welcome to two Front War, a normally bi-weekly podcast covering the Yankees and Giants 2026 season. i Unless something happens. I'm Andrew, and with me as always is Liam, and something happened.
00:00:23
Speaker
Something did happen. Yeah, it's ah not good. All right. Patrick Bailey traded to the Cleveland Guardians.
00:00:35
Speaker
for the 29th pick for the competitive balance round of the draft and for triple or not triple a double a left handed pitcher Matt tugboat Wilkinson.
00:00:49
Speaker
He's already got a nickname in double a he already has a nickname in double a tugboat. That's somewhat good news. Yeah, he's he's apparently killing it in. He's a prospect. So he's is he's a ah interesting prospect for Cleveland. So I guess that's good. But um I don't know.
00:01:12
Speaker
don't know. I think we should have seen this coming last episode. You know? ah Yeah. When they called up Jesus Rodriguez because they already had Eric Hase up.
Bailey's Offensive Struggles
00:01:25
Speaker
So that was our third catcher. that should have that should have been That should have been a red flag Uh, so, uh, Bailey has been struggling offensively.
00:01:38
Speaker
ah it, he, he is hitting, um in the, the one hundreds,
00:01:49
Speaker
uh, which we already talked about a little bit during our last, uh, uh, combined arms right now. He is hitting 46. one forty six
00:02:02
Speaker
Total 12 hits for the year with 82 at-bats.
00:02:10
Speaker
um But his defense is incredibly strong, which is something that ah you know is usually very um
00:02:25
Speaker
wanted. you know That's all that you want in your catcher. Usually your catcher, you're not really expecting your catcher to be
00:02:33
Speaker
You know, all that... ah but You expected him to be, you know, what Cal Raleigh did. yeah You know, year. It's elite. ah All the analysts are saying that he is by far defensively the best catcher in baseball.
00:02:48
Speaker
Absolutely. Which, I guess, kind of makes him of the best defensive catcher on the planet. Yes. um But with the issues that the lineup as a whole has, ah maybe that's...
00:03:03
Speaker
not something that they're like we don't need defense right now we need we need offense and Patrick Bailey right now is an auto out um even if he's the number nine hitter you really don't want that um when you look at his I'm looking at uh his baseball reference right now at his advanced batting stats uh his um
00:03:27
Speaker
and it's the season is is is very bad his uh ah R. Oba, which measures the player's defensive contributions weighted in proportion to each actual run value, is 193 for this season.
00:03:45
Speaker
Compare that to last year's just 269.
Bailey: Defensive Powerhouse
00:03:50
Speaker
wow His R. Bat Plus batting runs as computed for war, but indexed to the environment the player played in where 100 is league average, he's sitting at 10. He's never been at 100. His highest was 2024 at 83. His batting average on balls and plays um is sitting at 186.
00:04:14
Speaker
It's his lowest lowest in his career. Last year, it was second highest at 308.
00:04:23
Speaker
ah
00:04:28
Speaker
But he has two gold gloves, and that makes him the only Giants catcher in franchise history to have two gold gloves.
00:04:40
Speaker
ah There was some pitch calling drama. um This ah last episode, ah we we briefly talked about it, and I was going to talk about it ah during our next one.
Pitch Calling Controversy
00:04:56
Speaker
um So in in I believe it was Tampa ah is where Ryan Walker threw nine straight sinkers and the game was lost.
00:05:09
Speaker
um At the time, it was believed to have been called by the dugout that the dugout was calling ah the pitches and they're the ones that called nine sinkers because that just seemed like why would Bailey do that?
00:05:21
Speaker
But the Giants have denied this, that they were calling that the dugout was calling pitches for that game. So do you believe them? I don't know. I, I, I, I'm not sure.
00:05:37
Speaker
I
00:05:42
Speaker
i don't know. I really don't know. I really don't know. don't, I don't, I don't know if I believe him or not. Um, It just feels very off for what the kind of catcher that that Bailey is. You're talking about a guy who in his.
00:05:59
Speaker
his debut after the first few innings with the Logan Webb, Logan Webb was. was like, OK, you can now call my pitches.
00:06:11
Speaker
um Now, granted, Ryan Walker only has two pitches. ah the sinker and the slider and his slider has been off for a all season going back to last season.
Bailey's Surprising Game Entry
00:06:24
Speaker
of So it could go either way. ah But but yeah, the giant the the giant said no, that they were not the ones calling Doug out. And then during the first game against the Pirates, um Bailey was not expected to play.
00:06:41
Speaker
And then he gets unexpectedly brought into the game. ah Apparently this caught him by surprise getting brought into the game. He was a, he got brought in as a defensive sub in the ninth inning.
00:06:53
Speaker
um Happens. yeah Yeah, it happens. ah The Rodriguez got hit in the, in the elbow in his, his, his right hander. So in his, he got hit in his right elbow, like during his swing, during a check swing, it got him.
00:07:14
Speaker
um he stayed in uh for the rest of for that inning and then the uh the bottom or the top half of the that was the eighth inning uh bottom of the eighth inning he gets hit top of the ninth uh bailey gets brought in um which you know like we have haste right like we have three catchers now at this point um So ah Bailey is is out there is apparently unexpected. um
00:07:44
Speaker
And during the outing, you see him making a lot of like turning his head towards the dugout. ah That made a lot of people think that the dugout was was calling the pitches.
00:07:57
Speaker
ah Once again, they say that they were not. um But at one point, Bailey looked really annoyed when he's looking at, you know, his own dugout. Right. And holding it, he holds his arms out like, you know, what do you want me to do kind of way?
00:08:14
Speaker
ah So that's. That was interesting. That's like the that's the first time ever, I think. Yeah, that's the first time ever we see Patrick Bailey show like.
00:08:27
Speaker
uh, annoyance, um, at the team. Uh, this is the day before he gets traded, um, which I guess makes sense because,
00:08:38
Speaker
ah with, with, they were interviewing players, um, and media was talking about it. no one on the team, uh, seemed particularly annoyed when speaking to the media.
00:08:51
Speaker
And according to, uh, the giants insider, Alex Pavlovich, uh, he seemed to, this seemed to have been expected. Um, though, uh, if anything got the, the, the players by surprise, it's that, uh, it happened early.
00:09:07
Speaker
Um, Oh yeah. You don't really see trades happening. Yeah. You do not see trades in this, this early also should be noted that, uh, Bailey does retain both of his options.
00:09:22
Speaker
So they did not decide to send him back down to triple a to develop his swing, um, to, to get that fixed instead often to just trade him.
Posey's Aggressive Management Style
00:09:30
Speaker
Um, that kind of brings me to this, to to my next section of, uh, the giants under Buster Posey.
00:09:36
Speaker
Um, This is very different, very, very different ah how. The Giants have been under the capilar as manager and Farhan Saidi.
00:09:52
Speaker
So so this is very different. um Then then the under the Farhan. ah Usually we would see and under Farhan and Gabe, like we saw like a lot of options being used.
00:10:07
Speaker
um We saw a lot of like people getting sat down triple a lot of roster manipulation, not so much with the giants. um This is the second season in a row that Buster has made aggressive and early season moves in 2025. He treated Jordan Hicks and um Kyle Harrison to Boston for Raphael Devers in June.
00:10:32
Speaker
are you That was a big deal at the time because that was the first big move of the season. First big trade of the season. ah This is when the Giants were on an absolute tear. um It was, you know, June, ah early June.
00:10:51
Speaker
You know, everyone was like, oh, like this is this is a playoff team. We're going to we're to make it to the playoffs. Giants ended that season 81 and 81. That's also when they extended Bob Melvin as well.
00:11:04
Speaker
I think they extended him a little bit earlier in the year or a little bit earlier than than this trade ah just for him to get fired. and We still get paid, though, because it's paid for this year, though.
00:11:16
Speaker
And then this year, ah the the the big moves are he calls up Suzak Rodriguez and Eldridge as the Giants often struggles struggled in April. um And during questions ah with the media, um the Buster had hinted that Rodriguez being called up was the writing on the wall for Bailey.
Posey's Trade Strategy
00:11:42
Speaker
Like I said, he was a third catcher. Sometimes teams do do the three catcher thing. I think that's more of like a late season thing. Yeah. But. And he's the person that you trade, you get the most for.
00:11:56
Speaker
Yes, yes. um So Buster appears to be a president of baseball operations that is not afraid to make aggressive moves early in the season. 2025 did not work out, but in 2026 with the team struggling as is, will see if things turn around or end better than they started at the very least.
00:12:16
Speaker
Buster has also shaken up the minors. Both the AAA and AA teams are in first place in their respective divisions at the time of this.
00:12:28
Speaker
um Also, there appears to be very little tolerance for failure under Buster as well. Most people, including insiders, believed Bailey would be optioned to figure out his swing. For someone as defensively impressive as he is, it was taken for granted.
00:12:41
Speaker
However, Bailey was in his arbitration year, and perhaps that is what did him in. Compare that to the kind his contract to the contracts of Chapman, Devers, and Adama's, and they at the very least appear to be safe.
00:12:53
Speaker
Particularly Chapman, who has the largest contract in franchise history, negotiated by Buster, and overtook Buster's record-breaking contract, and is expected to retire as a Giant. So that gets me thinking of...
00:13:07
Speaker
of other players who are on the chopping block. I just got three of them here. um This is more. These are these are offensive players.
00:13:18
Speaker
um I think Borucki is ah he's a pitcher. He I think I think he's got to go. We got we I would much rather just see somebody ah from triple a get called up and just start or, or, or be a, uh, not start, but, uh, uh, be a relief pitcher. Then the ball rookie right now, uh, it's bad. Um,
Players on the Chopping Block
00:13:44
Speaker
tease for our next episode, but, he's my LVP for pitching.
00:13:49
Speaker
He pitched a total of 0.1 innings and gave up two hits in a run in 16 pitches.
00:13:58
Speaker
Um, And Janice got absolutely destroyed last night. But when I think of three players who are on the chopping block, it makes me sad ah because I like all three of them, but two of them in particular are ah performing.
00:14:16
Speaker
ah Number one being a rise. I don't think he stays on the team.
00:14:23
Speaker
By the trade deadline. ah Which really sucks because he's ah You know, he was he was not brought onto the team for his defense, which historically is not great, right? Yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
But just out of nowhere. I'm looking at his chances to put outs, and it's not good. Yeah. But this season is is you know potentially like, oh, he might win cold glove. like like He might be in the discussion at the very least for for gold glove. His defense has been amazing this season.
00:14:55
Speaker
Um, his hitting also not, has not been, has not been too bad, as well, but because he's doing way better defensively, he was not really brought on the team for defense and this is increasing his value. And if the giants continue, if the science season does not turn around, I think he could be offloaded for quite a bit.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, another person who is also, sixteenth in batting average right now. yeah like he's he's he's doing it he's doing great on both sides and and i could he's got i think just the one year with the giants so like i think i think he might be gone by trade season or by trade deadline um which is gonna be sad even he's even though he's a really stressful hitter to watch because he just needs to get to two strikes before he does anything um
00:15:46
Speaker
And then ah the next one is ah who might be a victim of his own success. Maybe. Maybe this one is a little bit fear mongering for me, but Casey Schmidt.
00:15:58
Speaker
ah He's probably the best hitter on the team right now. He certainly was throughout April. um He's gone off offensively and.
00:16:10
Speaker
If if things continue to get bad, you could probably trade him for for quite a bit. And and i I was thinking about this. i was like, man, ah it sucks being in your arbitration here. Like it sucks being any like your free agent here, right?
00:16:28
Speaker
Because during the season, when you're doing really good, like you can get a ton of money, right? But then once the season's over, ah you saw it with the Tarek Scoogle, right?
00:16:40
Speaker
hmm. We're like he had like this crazy 2025 and then you get to the ah the the offseason and they're like, yeah, you did good last season, but we don't think you're going to do very good next season.
00:16:58
Speaker
And then ah well it's like the opposite midseason, you know, like this season is a go. You can get like you get traded and.
00:17:09
Speaker
It's just's just kind of weird. And then the last one is going to be Lee. ah He's not performing as expected. ah His stat line might not reflect that, but he could be very streaky.
00:17:22
Speaker
But when he's hot, he's hot. um He's still kind of coming off of a... the not the road trip in Philadelphia and Atlanta but the the the previous road trip where he just you know it was going like you know four for five two for you know three for three
00:17:45
Speaker
but ah he he he's getting a lot of ground outs um he does not have a lot of stolen bases which what your nickname is grandson of the wind you know You know, you're expecting a lot of infield hits. You're expecting a lot of stolen bases and where the team is just not getting that.
00:18:05
Speaker
Because he was originally supposed to be the center fielder. Defense center field was not great. ah Now he's in the right field.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, so that is the right field. um
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah, it it is...
00:18:25
Speaker
Took everyone by surprise. This happened on Saturday morning. Let's take a look at who we got. Mike Wilkinson.
00:18:37
Speaker
Mike Tugboat Wilkinson. He is ah left-handed pitcher. He's 6'1", 250, so that's probably where it comes from. uh... The, uh... Uh...
00:18:56
Speaker
That nickname. Let's see here.
00:19:09
Speaker
All right. So with the double Akron Ducks.
00:19:17
Speaker
Look here.
00:19:21
Speaker
He is sitting in an ERA of 1.59. It should be noted that while AAA is very hitter friendly, AA is very pitcher friendly. But he has a 1.59 batting average or ERA ah in 28 innings pitched.
00:19:39
Speaker
And he's only given, he's given up only one home run, nine walks. He has 36 strikeouts for the year. Three box, three wild pitches.
00:19:52
Speaker
His whip is 0.918.
00:20:00
Speaker
And his
00:20:05
Speaker
strikeouts to walks ratio is four. Four. So pretty good. ah he's he's due He's doing pretty good. he played He's from Canada. He's from ah Vancouver.
00:20:21
Speaker
Vancouver.
00:20:24
Speaker
Yeah, he's from Vancouver. he's Canadian.
00:20:30
Speaker
ah So we I don't know when we're going to see him. How old is he? He's 23 right now. um Not sure when we're going to see him. ah But Buster has ah been also reforming double a and triple A as well.
00:20:49
Speaker
Like I said, so the both those teams are currently in first place. um
00:20:56
Speaker
so So we'll see how that ah that works out. ah but but what what are What are your reactions to this, Liam? How are you feeling? and How do you feel about this? Do you think it's too early to make a move like this? or No, i'm i'm a fan of of early season moves, personally. I do it all the time in a baseball simulator myself.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah, all that stuff.
Giants: A Competitive Roster?
00:21:20
Speaker
but
00:21:22
Speaker
it's It's a sign of things to come, and you know You can't sit back and do nothing and just kind of wait for guys to get hot at this point, which you know seems to be what everyone's waiting for. This is a roster with so much talent on it. you could you It's the expectation that they're going to be better.
00:21:41
Speaker
It's a roster that was expected to be you know there's there's expected to be a three-way fight for first place this year, like like there was last year, like they did last year.
00:21:53
Speaker
You know, like where, you know, a a normal everyday baseball ah bad stretch setting you to, you know, third fourth third or fourth place.
00:22:09
Speaker
You have the Giants-Dodgers and Padres really, um you know, fighting for that first place spot with ah the D-backs. ah just having like a normal year and the Rockies having a historically bad year.
00:22:25
Speaker
Yeah. I I I felt it last year. I felt this last year where i was watching and the Rockies, you know, just have that that bad year. And I was like, man, like this was a season to actually do something.
00:22:39
Speaker
Because it was like, you know, like the the Rockies, but like they're not going to be this bad next year. They can't be this bad next year. And they're bad, but they're not as bad.
00:22:50
Speaker
Right now, the Giants are on pace to lose 100 games.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah. So it forces Buster's hand when you have, you know, that that that is something to look forward to like that. You know, he has to make a move not only to save the team, but also you have to say he has to save himself because if he shows that he's just going to sit by and let what's happening happen, you yeah i'd I'd expect him to be canned at the end of the season.
00:23:21
Speaker
So he's at least he's making active choices to to switch up the team and and try and get a spark plug going. And to your point of you know who's on the who's on the hot seat, who's movable,
00:23:34
Speaker
ah you know I feel with with with Bailey, you were you were talking a lot about how he looked frustrated coming down to the end.
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah. Well, all those players you mentioned are, you know, your better ones, your removable ones, and you can get a lot for them in return.
00:23:57
Speaker
I think someone like Lee, he brings like a little bit of life, at least to the outfield. You know, he's doing like, you know, I don't know how to characterize it, just kind of the
00:24:13
Speaker
preppy fun you know spark plug type energy you know he's trying to get guys to kiss he's trying to kiss guys you know like ah dear' going that's Gilbert yeah that was Gilbert he was trying to kiss Gilbert or Gilbert was trying to kiss no Gilbert was trying to kiss him Gilbert was trying to kiss him yeah g ily Gilbert's of the crazy one no I'm getting i gotta to replay that video I think it's him
00:24:36
Speaker
Oh, oh, oh, no i know what you're talking about. Because it was the next day. The first day, they were to kiss Lee. The next day, ah Lee tried to get Gilbert and Ramos to kiss. Yeah. They tried to push their heads together. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that banter. That's the kind of energy that you're trying to, you know, at least to still the team, even in the bad moments.
00:24:56
Speaker
So i' want to I'd want to keep someone like that
Baseball's Life Lessons
00:24:59
Speaker
around. I talked to, was at this, like, Mixer social event the other day. yeah at a local guy's house this is like a like an industry guy like entertainment and all that it was like people signing books and some political figures were there but uh 69 met art shamsky was there a and he he was talking about the the mets but i think a lot of what he was talking about is could also be applied to the giants you know baseball
00:25:29
Speaker
as you know life experience and how it teaches you to deal with adversity i feel like you know someone like that and especially this kind of time is someone i'd want to keep around and they need more of that energy right now if anything because you know you got to make all these all these moves and everything and you know tony vitello managers also got to keep some a lot of this energy up if he wants to see any kind of change but it's you know you're in You're in your trying times and ah have even your worst worst moments kind of be something that you can overcome even in the back of your mind.
00:26:05
Speaker
you know you with With that mentality, at the very least, you can't lose a game. I was going to pull up, see who they got in the schedule coming up. After the Pirates, they go to L.A. for four games. And then after that, it's Sacramento.
00:26:24
Speaker
ah next episode we'll be recording on the 17th. Yeah, so I got right here. So they they they just played against the Padres. Then they right now they're going against the the Pirates.
00:26:36
Speaker
Pirates, pire Dodgers, Sacramento A's. The Sacramento A's, yeah. So tough, tough stretch. But yeah, I think now that you made this big move and everyone's head is kind of on a swivel, you know it it would be nice to to win these games, but these games should be at the very least competitive. Not like that this last Pittsburgh game that I'm seeing that was like 13-3.
00:27:00
Speaker
yeah Yeah, they lost 13-3. That was rough. A little annoying because those last three runs that the Pirates got was off of a Christian Koss, position player, and it's kind of like,
00:27:15
Speaker
Come on, guys. Please just end it. The seventh inning last night was.
00:27:21
Speaker
It felt like it was three innings long. So now we're going to have them just for the pirate side. The Giants went down one, two, three. So if we're going to have a more offensive catcher ah take it at bats, I'd like to see no no more of these 3-0 losses to Tampa Bay, none of these 5-1 losses to to Tampa Bay, seven o losses to to Philly.
00:27:43
Speaker
Some runs runs coming across the plate regardless of
00:27:49
Speaker
Somewhat regardless of score, but regardless of opponent is something that you kind of want to see. loop Yeah. um Susanne should be coming back soon. So that means we're probably going to lose Haas to AAA.
00:28:01
Speaker
Unless he gets outright DFA'd. I doubt it. But he'll probably get them back down. It's going to my guess. think they're going to keep our triggers up because he can play the corner field.
00:28:13
Speaker
And they had him in the corner. They had him in right field, which is crazy. He did make one mistake, but. Yeah.
00:28:24
Speaker
Oh, yes. i Oh, um so Bailey think about like. how How does this work out for him? um In the end, it might work out ah fine.
00:28:38
Speaker
um He does not live in California. He lives in North Carolina. That's where his wife and kids are. um His wife was very happy on Instagram.
00:28:52
Speaker
ah So going to Cleveland is going to be a way better flight during those off days to to get back home. So this might be so this will be this will be good for him.
00:29:06
Speaker
um His party message didn't really have, you know, anything. You know, nothing controversial in that one. You know, just very standard, very polite. um Yeah.
00:29:21
Speaker
I think that'll... Is that going to be it? Is that going to be it? that is ah Is that... You got anything? Any other thoughts about it? where We have the exact opposite. When we're calling up minor league prospects, it's like something we're looking forward to. Yeah. If it does come at the...
00:29:41
Speaker
Well, to be fair, there's there's very there's very much a difference of calling up your prospects when you're when you have a winning record, when you have like the best record in your division and compared to when you're last place.
00:29:52
Speaker
And the the prospect that talking about is Spencer Jones, who's joe okay always been touted as left-handed Aaron Judge. Hmm. fun yes two of them yeah he's got judges olds He's got Judge's very, very old swing.
00:30:07
Speaker
okay The 2017 swing? Yeah. yeah so Someone like that in 2018. He needs to get with Judge's hitting coach immediately and change that to what he's doing right now.
00:30:18
Speaker
Do you ever forget that Judge was an A? Was an a Yeah, for a little bit out of yeah of high school, right? Yeah. Weird.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, but went to went to college, which was the right move. Yeah, okay, okay. He's a goon. Don't know about that one. Did you say he's a goon? No, I said that's a good one.
00:30:41
Speaker
That's a good one. I heard he's a the goon. He's a goon. All right, Liam. Well, thanks for joining me. It is very early this morning. It's 6.30 in the morning.
00:30:52
Speaker
It's 8.30 by me. ah yeah um and News hit me Saturday morning like a truck. I was watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. you You were rewatching it?
00:31:05
Speaker
I haven't seen it before. I watched it before. so yeah so What? Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah, I know. I'm aware. I want to want to play into a stereotype, but we got to wrap up the episode.
00:31:17
Speaker
Okay. All right. ah So come back next Sunday. We will have a full episode. We'll see how the Giants do after post-trade, post-trade.
00:31:30
Speaker
of Maybe not a big sample size, but we'll get a good idea. Yeah. Somewhat good idea. A very solid sample size of one? Not great.
00:31:39
Speaker
All right. ah don't have anything to plug right now. You got anything to plug? Yeah.
00:31:48
Speaker
No, I guess not. no i I don't want to call attention to something that's happening today. I'm just looking forward to it. It's some Mother's Day. We're recording this. That is right. I have to make some phone calls in an hour or two. Yeah.
00:31:59
Speaker
All right. Kiss your mother. Love your mother. a Kiss her. Kiss her now. Kiss her. it. Show her the episode two. We're commanding this to happen.