When San Francisco Giants fans picked up their phones or looked online Saturday morning, they found out that Patrick Bailey was no longer on the team.

The Giants' front office decided to trade Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians. He's played all of his three-plus MLB seasons with San Francisco and has proven to be a solid option behind the plate.

Now, though, the ballclub is going to hand over the reins of catching its pitching staff to Eric Haase and Jesse Rodriguez.

Bailey has a slash line right now of .146/.183/.396 with one home run and five RBIs in 30 games in the 2026 MLB season. He was a first-round draft pick (No. 13 overall) out of North Carolina State in the 2020 MLB amateur draft.

What's interesting to note here is that Bailey was coming off of another stellar season in 2025 despite the Giants underperforming record-wise. Bailey won his second straight Gold Glove Award from Rawlings in November 2025.

He was the first catcher in the National League to win the award in back-to-back seasons since St. Louis Cardinals legend Yadier Molina won in eight consecutive seasons from 2008-2015. Bailey also was the first catcher in franchise history to take home multiple Gold Gloves as a Giant.

Want more Bailey data from last season? He became the first player in MLB history with a walk-off inside-the-park home run and a walk-off grand slam in a season, according to MLB data researcher Sarah Langs.

Bailey also was the second catcher in Giants history with a walk-off grand slam. Who was the first? Well, you have to go back to April 25, 1969, when Jack Hiatt did the feat in the bottom of the 13th inning. 

All that, though, does not fit into the Giants' current plans under first-year manager Tony Vitello.

In a twist of irony, Haase is a former draft pick by the Cleveland franchise back when they were still called the Indians. Haase is 3-for-10 in the 2026 MLB season with one RBI. Rodriguez was recently called up and has gone 5-for-11 with a home run and two RBIs so far for the Giants.

Besides a draft pick, the Giants also get pitching prospect Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson in the trade.

Wilkinson, 23, was picked by the Guardians in the 10th Round of the 2023 Draft. In six appearances at Double-A Akron in the Guardians' minor-league system, he has a 1-2 record with a 1.59 ERA. Wilkinson has a 0.918 WHIP while striking out 36 batters over 28 1/3 innings.

The Guardians are currently in first place in the American League Central Division with a 21-19 mark. Getting a catcher whose defensive play has put him among the top catchers in MLB will help them out tremendously.

As for the Giants, they are dead last in the National League West Division with a 15-23 record, a half-game behind the Colorado Rockies.

Is San Francisco through trading? Are they already sellers so early in the season?

This isn't the type of start that Vitello or the Giants wanted to have take place. Now, the onus is on everyone involved with the ballclub to show marked improvement.

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