Guardians All-Star Steven Kwan stays in Cleveland after wild day of wondering

New York Times

16 hours ago

CLEVELAND — At 5:51 p.m. ET Thursday, Steven Kwan's phone rang. It was Cleveland Guardians president Chris Antonetti.
Kwan's heart sank.
This was it. Surely, he was part of a buzzer-beater blockbuster that would cap a wild day full of wheeling and dealing by desperate executives across the league. Surely, the boss in charge of the operation in Cleveland was calling to deliver the news before it spilled out onto social media. Surely, the only big-league organization he's ever known was shipping him out to an unfamiliar team and he'd have to figure out travel and housing and navigate a new clubhouse and prove himself to another fan base and teammates and coaches.
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Kwan spent the day searching for distractions, anything to get him to 6 p.m. ET with some mental energy still in the tank. He kept telling himself that whatever happened was out of his control, so there was no use in dwelling on the unknown. But the rumors were inescapable, especially when the kids at his baseball camp Thursday morning peppered him with questions about his future.
Steven Kwan had a baseball camp today. We bought Liam a ticket for Christmas. He's been looking forward to it for months. It poured and we couldn't play, so Kwan met w/each camper and took individual photos on maybe the most stressful day of his career. It meant a lot to the kids pic.twitter.com/FIAh1wIRfK
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) July 31, 2025
Antonetti, though, was calling to put an end to the uneasiness. He told the All-Star left fielder he could exhale. The Guardians were not trading him. He could spend the final nine minutes leading up to the deadline with a clear mind. Kwan said he appreciated the call, and stressed he knows the business side of the game 'is not personal,' and that 'we signed up for this kind of stuff.'
Still, it's a relief to have it in the rearview.
'It feels good knowing where I'm going to stay for the rest of the year,' Kwan said Friday. 'No more outside distractions.'
The Guardians certainly listened to offers on their leadoff hitter. They talked with the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays and other clubs throughout the week about exchanging Kwan for various prospect packages. As is customary for a notoriously stubborn front office — one nicknamed in certain baseball circles as the Cleveland Grind Machine — the Guardians set a high price and waited for another team to pay it. In the end, they traded Shane Bieber to Toronto and Paul Sewald to the Detroit Tigers. They hung onto Kwan, who is under team control for another two and a half seasons.
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Guardians manager Stephen Vogt spent Thursday at home with his wife and three children. They tried to play Wiffle Ball in a downpour which, Vogt said, 'didn't go very well.' He watched MLB Network, followed the trade buzz online, conversed with Antonetti and his lieutenants over the phone when they sought his expertise, and watched 'the baseball world go crazy' as the 6 p.m. deadline approached.
About 20 minutes after the deadline officially passed, Vogt texted Kwan that he couldn't wait 'to see him in left (field)' on Friday.
Kwan hosted a baseball camp at League Park at 9 a.m. Thursday for kids aged 6 to 13. Mother Nature washed away the on-field activities, and about half of the 250 attendees headed home. Those who stuck around, however, took pictures with Kwan and chatted with him. And, yes, many asked if he was being traded.
'I told them the truth,' Kwan said, '(that) I'll find out when they do.'
After the camp, Kwan headed home, turned on the TV to follow the deadline action and did some laundry. If he was going to be traded, he and his wife would have clean clothes to pack as they headed to their new destination.
'If not,' Kwan said, 'then we're ahead on our laundry and can get ready for our next road trip. That seemed like a win-win.'
He returned to his usual perch atop Vogt's lineup on Friday night, when the Guardians began a three-game set against a Minnesota Twins club that shipped out a hefty portion of its roster. Kwan received a rousing ovation from the Cleveland crowd — some stood, others chanted his name — and then supplied a leadoff single.
Kwan's teammate at Oregon State, Trevor Larnach, survived the mass exodus. The two are aiming to grab dinner on Saturday night, plans that were threatened by the trade deadline, but ultimately uninterrupted.
Without Kwan, the Guardians' flickering postseason hopes would have gone dark. He's one of three hitters on the roster who rates as an above-average performer at the plate this season, along with José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo. He's still here, though, and he said the Guardians 'have enough to make a good run at it.'
'Kwan's a huge part of us. He's a huge part of Cleveland,' Vogt said. 'I'm pumped that he's here. You never know. It's rumors. You don't know it until it's true. We're just happy that Kwan's here.'