Guardians have one main objective if Steven Kwan trade talks get serious this offseason

The MLB offseason is set to hit overdrive today with the start of the General Managers Meeting at the Aria Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. And one of the names that’s going to be reverberating throughout the numerous conversations being held throughout the casino’s rooms and casino floors is that of Steven Kwan, who is arguably the biggest player who could be available in the trade market. 

While there will be plenty of ink spilled and conversations to be had about what it would take to acquire Kwan, Chris Antonetti and his team are the only people who will ultimately determine Kwan’s fate for 2027. But no matter what they choose, the one thing the Guardians need to avoid doing is using Kwan’s trade value to acquire just one big league player. There’s a time and place for a one-to-one swap, and this isn’t the time for it. 

The Guardians need to avoid the temptation of trading Steven Kwan for established big league talent

We got our first taste of Kwan being part of a one-to-one trade over the weekend when MLB’s Jon Morosi floated the idea of Kwan being dealt for another impending free agent as teams look to balance the risk that could come with the 2027 season being a wash due to the lockout. And then we got another look at it on Sunday night when MLB Trade Rumors’ Mark Polishuk published a story where he tried to find the Guardians a potential trade partner for Kwan. 

While there was a lot to parse from Polishuk’s story since addressed the situation for every team, the most interesting line of the story came in his blurb about the Astros, where he presented the idea of the Guardians trading Kwan for Houston third baseman Isaac Paredes. 

Talk about a nightmare situation. 

Not only would that trade be a waste of Kwan’s trade value (while also keeping him in the American League), it would be a bit of an odd fit since Paredes is a primary third baseman who is also going to be a free agent after the 2027 season. 

Paredes has power (the one thing the Guardians need), but almost all of his power stems from his ability to pull the ball to left field. He’s been able to feast in Houston thanks to the Crawford boxes, but Progressive Field is a different story thanks to the 19-foot high wall in left. Only 16 of his 25 home runs last season would have left the park at Progressive Field, though it’s worth noting that he did tag the Guardians for a mulit-homer game at Progressive Field in April. 

But really Paredes here is a stand-in for the idea of the Guardians trading Kwan for purely immediate help. It would be one thing to trade him for a couple big league-ready prospects or a player or two who are still pre-arb, but trading Kwan for another impending free agent at this juncture would be a mistake.

Kwan’s a beloved Guardian who arguably has the biggest trade value of any of the players Cleveland has traded away recently and giving him away for someone who wouldn’t be a part of the Guardians core long-term would be hustling backwards. 

This offseason is already going to be weird; the Guardians don’t need to make it weirder by trading Kwan for a player like Paredes. 

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