One former MLB GM believes the Guardians should trade Steven Kwan to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cleveland Guardians made one of the biggest trades in all of baseball last offseason when they sent Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. That deal went down a day into MLB’s Winter Meetings, and with the annual event beginning on Sunday, all eyes could be on Chris Antonetti and what he has planned this year.
One move that former MLB GM and insider Jim Bowden wants to see the Guardians make is to trade Steven Kwan to the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospect Josue De Paula.
“The Dodgers will love the Gold Glove-winning Kwan, who at the plate also provides them more traffic for the dangerous middle of their lineup, while the Guardians win the deal in the long run by gaining a potential middle-of-the-order star in De Paula,” wrote Bowden.
The Guardians don’t need to trade Kwan this offseason. And they should still explore signing him to a contract extension. That said, if the front office does make the decision to move their All-Star outfielder, this is the type of package they should be seeking and expecting for Kwan.
De Paula is the Dodgers’ No. 1-ranked prospect and is viewed as the No. 13 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline. He does have true star potential. Through De Paula’s minor league career, he has a .279/.405/.414 slash line with an OPS of .819.
Plus, the Guardians could count on De Paula being a factor for the big-league lineup in 2026. Right now, the 20-year-old is at Double-A, but it wouldn’t be shocking for him to get promoted to Triple-A within the first month or two of the season, and with that see big-league action by the summer.
With Kwan still having multiple years before he’s a free agent and with such an impressive track record, it would be interesting to see if the Guardians ask for another prospect or an MLB-level reliever to help sweeten the deal.
Even though the Dodgers are back-to-back World Series champions, they need help in the outfield, and all of baseball knows that.
If the Guardians do end up trading Kwan, a deal like the one Bowden suggests would make a lot of sense for everyone involved.