Steven Kwan’s name has already come up in trade rumors this offseason, and that’ll likely continue throughout the winter until he’s ultimately moved, or the Cleveland Guardians sign him to a contract extension. 

Even though Kwan will likely be a recurring name in trade speculation, that doesn’t mean the Guardians are destined to move him. In fact, one Guardians insider is casting some doubt about a Kwan trade before Opening Day. The Athletic’s Zack Meisel made an appearance on MLB Network earlier this week and talked about 

“They deliberated it. They had a lot of teams that were interested: the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Blue Jays. Essentially, every contender called on him. They just weren’t overwhelmed by an offer at that point, and decided not to tear things completely apart,” explained Meisel. 

“You think, ‘Okay, it’s the Guardians, they typically don’t pay guys when they get this close to free agency, Kwan has two years of arbitration left, he’s projected to make about $9 million in arbitration this winter.’ But even Kwan admitted, he was really disappointed in his offensive output in 2025. You think about that, and you go. ‘Well, you’re probably not going to fetch as much now as you would have in July.’ The Guardians are also really desperate for offense. So, I can see them hanging on to him. They’ll certainly listen, they always do. But they know they need a couple of hitters and the outfield is already a spot they need some reinforcements,” said Meisel.

Even though a contender would love to pry Kwan away from the Guardians this winter, it would make way more sense for Cleveland to hold on to him at the start of the season and revisit a trade closer to next year’s deadline, as Meisel mentioned. 

Kwan definitely didn’t have an incredible season for his standard. He slashed .272/.330/.374 with an OPS of .705, while his offensive numbers plummeted after the All-Star Break. Even with two years of control, Contender could hold that against Kwan and the Guardians in possible trade talks. 

At that point, the Guardians should have a better idea about the players they have in Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and CJ Kayfus, and who could ultimately take over for Kwan in left field. 

That said, so many teams have been interested in Kwan because of how good of a two-way player he’s been through the first four seasons of his career. The Guardians could always simply extend the two-time All-Star instead of feeling like they are being forced to trade him.