One Trade That Could Quietly Change the Guardians Playoff Outlook

Steven Kwan has turned his season around. But could the Guardians say goodbye at the trade deadline?

Jul 21, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan (38) reacts after hitting an RBI double during the third inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Cleveland Guardians are expected to do something at the MLB trade deadline.

And they might not be buyers.

Heading into the last weekend before the deadline, the Guardians are just two games behind the Chicago White Sox for first place in the American League Central Division. This year’s American League feels wide open, which could limit the amount of teams willing to sell off pieces. 

Despite Cleveland’s success so far this season, the Guardians have an anemic batting lineup. Their biggest need at the deadline is an offensive jolt and some bullpen support. But there’s plenty of teams that would like to add some pop in their lineup, and the Guardians could have an unpopular solution.

Kwan trade changes Cleveland's playoff outlook

After a really slow start to the season, Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan has turned things around. Even though Kwan’s elite Gold Glove defense never wavered, his production at the plate wasn’t very good. Advanced metrics show real concerns about Kwan’s bat speed being the slowest that it’s ever been.

But he’s turned things around, heating up a bit before the All-Star break and carrying that momentum into late July. The Guardians have given Kwan an opportunity to return to his leadoff spot, even though they found success turning his season around by moving him towards the bottom of the batting lineup.

On a Guardians team that struggles to score runs, Kwan’s ability to make contact makes him a valuable asset, even though he’s just not a power-hitting outfielder. The Guardians are one of the worst teams in the league in terms of team batting average, OPS and home runs. 

Which would make trading Kwan a shock, and could potentially alter Cleveland’s playoff outlook.

If the Guardians were to trade Kwan, they’d need to get a big league bat in return. Typically, that’s not how Cleveland’s blockbuster trades go. The Guardians have created an identity of selling high on top players, like Corey Kluber, Mike Clevinger and Francisco Lindor, to get developmental prospects that will make huge impacts in the future.

The future isn’t the focus of this Guardians squad, though.

They’re just two games back. This American League feels very wide open. With Cleveland’s stacked starting pitching rotation, the Guardians need more offense to make a real World Series run.

If Cleveland’s starting pitching takes a hit, that would be a big blow to this team. The lineup is so bad that the starting needs to be dominant almost every night to give the club a chance at victory. So trading Kwan would make an already suspect batting lineup even worse, even though he started the season very slowly.

The Guardians are a brilliantly smart front office. They rarely make the wrong move. Kluber landed them Emmanuel Clase, who was the top closer in the sport for many years. Clevinger returned Austin Hedges, Joey Cantillo, Josh Naylor, Gabriel Arias, Cal Quantrill and Owen Miller. In exchange for Lindor, the Guardians landed longtime infielders Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario plus pitching prospect Josh Wolf and minor league outfielder Isaiah Greene.

There’s no denying that Kwan would return a big haul of players that would likely help the Guardians for many years. But it would also quietly change their playoff outlook.