MLB Mock Blockbuster: All-Star Steven Kwan to Mets, Top-Shelf Prospects to Cleveland

Ya gotta give some to get some.

A truism, for sure, but a goodly number of New York Mets watchers don’t want to hear it, their thinking being: Why give this season when the Metsies will be able to either fight off the Phillies in the NL East, or Wild Card their way into the postseason? Let’s not mess with our healthy farm system.

However, a larger chunk of Mets Nation (most of whom are eternally pissed off at their team and want to see change, even when they are keeping the Phils at bay) want them to make a move now, and a big move at that, because next year, they might devolve into the Pirates.

Thus the borough of Queens—plus parts of Manhattan and maybe like 2/3rds of Brooklyn—would be super-happy if Mets Baseball Ops Prez David Stearns pulled the trigger on what could be a league-altering swap:

New York Mets receive:

Steven Kwan (LF)

Cleveland Guardians receive:

Blake Tidwell (RHP, Triple-A, NYM #10 prospect)

Jett Williams (2B/SS, Double-A, NYM #5 prospect)

Calvin Ziegler (RHP, High-A, NYM #20 prospect)

Cash considerations

Mr. (New) Met

Kwan may not yet be a true beast of the diamond. But he sure plays one on TV.

The lefty is the ultimate do-a-little-bit-of-everything-er, a guy who can hit for average—as of this writing, he’s in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak—he’ll steal you a base or two, he protects the plate (he’s whiffed just 38 times in 398 plate appearances this season), and he boasts a solid 3.1 WAR.

The Mets have a huge hole in the middle of their outfield—sorry, Jeff McNeil and Tyrone Taylor, but you know we’re right—and Gold Glover Kwan, who has done some time in center, would fill the gap quite nicely.

Kwan would bat fifth in the lineup, give or take, and his presence will make life more difficult for opposing pitchers who already have to deal with Juan Soto, Pete Alonzo, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo. It could even be argued that Kwan’s arrival would give the Mets one of the top-three one-through-five punches in the National League—something, in a year of parity, that would almost definitely get them to November.

The fact that Kwan would be under team control thorough 2027 is icing on the blue and orange cake.

Goodbye, Cleveland

Moving on from Kwan would be a sure sign that the 53-54 Guardians are calling a wrap on the 2025 season, a logical decision, as Fangraphs gives them a whopping 12.9% chance of seeing the playoffs.

A toolsy, Alex Bregman-esque player, the highly-touted Williams would be the jewel of the haul, and could find himself getting some run after the September call-ups. And Tidwell has a Major League slider that, come 2027, would soften the blow of losing Kwan.

Good deal all around, right? Turns out that every so often, both teams give and both teams get.

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