The Cleveland Guardians kept their star.
Steven Kwan didn’t go anywhere at the trade deadline, and while there was no actual need to deal him, fans and some analysts thought he was going to be on the move.
That’s why Jeff Passan of ESPN gave the Guardians their flowers for holding on to him.
“The Best Deal Is the One You Don’t Make Award: The Cleveland Guardians hold Steven Kwan,” Passan wrote. “For all the talks Cleveland held with other teams about left fielder Kwan — and there were plenty — the Guardians wound up not moving the two-time All-Star despite a number of strong offers. Perhaps no team in MLB navigates trade talks of veteran players with the discipline and conviction of the Guardians. They set their trade demands for Kwan, and no one met them. So, they held him. And that’s a good thing for a city like Cleveland, which has never gotten used to its team’s propensity to extract value out of tenured players before they reach free agency.”
Kwan is one of the best players in baseball, and he was arguably the best position player potentially available at the deadline.
As such, it made sense that the Guardians expected nothing but a stellar return.
He’s under team control through the 2027 season, so they can potentially re-engage in trade talks this offseason.
Ideally, they will get him signed to a long-term contract extension.
The Guardians are usually a team that moves on from its stars before they get too expensive, so there were legitimate reasons to think they would take that route again.
Yet, there was no reason to believe that a trade would benefit them, unless they got a tremendous offer.
Giving up on Kwan would’ve also been giving up on this season.
Though not necessarily the strongest World Series contender right now, the Guardians are playing their best baseball of the season when it matters most, and anything can happen in the playoffs.
NEXT: Guardians Make Notable Jump In Latest MLB Power Rankings
