Steven Kwan's name has been involved pretty frequently in trade rumors.
Cleveland Guardians fans have been worried since the summer that they'd lose their Gold Glove, leadoff-hitting left fielder.
But on Wednesday, the news from ESPN's Buster Olney suggests differently.
"While Cleveland will listen to offers for left fielder Steven Kwan, who is two seasons from free agency, their intention is to keep him into next season," Olney writes. "Kwan, 28, is a two-time All-Star and a four-time Gold Glove winner, but he's coming off what for him is a subpar offensive season -- his OPS was.705, and adjusted OPS was 96 -- and this could naturally impact the aggressiveness of other teams looking to add offensive help."
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Kwan remains the Guardians' second-most important hitter, behind just Jose Ramirez.
Cleveland does a great job of developing pitchers, but the story has been very different in the batting lineup for essentially the entirety of Kwan's tenure. He's a rare success story, especially in the outfield, where the Guardians have basically not found an answer in either center or right for the last five-plus years.
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The Guardians are always cognizant of value, and so with two years left on Kwan's contract, it might be the logical time for a small-market team to trade him for prospects in an effort to recycle players.
But when the player is important to the operation as Kwan, that math gets tougher.
And right now, it appears the Guardians have actually come down on the side of the equation that keeps Kwan in town.
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