Why Guardians traded for catcher Patrick Bailey from Giants

The Cleveland Guardians are 21-19, sitting in first place in the AL Central, and looking to make a push for the division title once more.

Things are going well so far, and the Guardians' front office decided to pull off an interesting move with a trade very early in the season.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, they are acquiring San Francisco Giants catcher and Gold Glove award winner Patrick Bailey. With a fairly set catcher room, why are the Guardians adding Bailey?

Why Guardians are trading for Patrick Bailey

"BREAKING: The Cleveland Guardians are acquiring two-time Gold Glove-winning catcher Patrick Bailey in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for the NO. 29 pick in this year's draft and left-handed pitching prospect Matt 'Tugboat' Wilkinson, sources tell ESPN," Passan reports.

The Guardians aren't giving up too much to acquire Bailey, who will instantly step in and be the best fielding catcher the Guardians have on the roster.

While Bailey has posted -0.2 bWAR this season with a .146 batting average and one homer in 82 at-bats, his elite defense is a big reason why Cleveland is adding Bailey.

He's not going to be an offensive piece for this team, but his defense should be a nice upgrade over their current catcher duo of Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges.

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Bo Naylor hasn't been a great catcher this season, as he's hit just .143 with a .438 OPS this season. Compared to Bailey's .146 average and .396 OPS, there's not enough of a difference that can make up the difference for Bailey's elite defense.

According to Zack Meisel of The Athletic, Naylor is being optioned to Triple-A, so the Guardians now will trot out Bailey and Hedges at the catcher spot this season, focusing on their defense and Hedges' surprisingly solid offense this season.

All in all, the Guardians are not losing much of anything offensively, but they now get a massive upgrade on the defensive side of things. This is a nice move for the Guardians, as they upgrade their defense without sustaining too much of a hit offensively.

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