Potential Pirates Trade Targets: Two-Time All-Star Steven Kwan
Steven Kwan could be an appealing trade target for the Pittsburgh Pirates for a variety of reasons.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a much better defender than Kwan, regardless of position. The 28-year-old has been awarded an American League Gold Glove in each of his four big-league seasons with the Cleveland Guardians. Since making his MLB debut in 2022, only one player has more defensive runs saved than Kwan’s 68 — former Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes (75).
Kwan would have little trouble navigating PNC Park’s spacious left field and would slot in nicely next to Oneil Cruz, who hasn’t graded well defensively since sliding from shortstop to center field.
While he’s maintained excellent defense throughout his career, Kwan’s offense has been more up and down. But he’s still posted a .700-plus OPS or better each year he’s been in the big leagues, which would be a boost for a Pirate offense that’s managed a .700 OPS once in the last six seasons.
Kwan was named an All-Star for the second time in his career this past season and finished the year with a .272/.330/.374 batting line with 29 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs, 56 RBI and 21 stolen bases.
In 583 career games with Cleveland, Kwan owns a healthy .281/.351/.390 slash line with 106 doubles, 18 triples, 36 home runs, 206 RBI and 73 steals. Only five outfielders have posted a higher batting average than Kwan since the start of the 2022 season.
Between his excellent defense, solid offense and strong base running, Kwan has had a 3.0-plus bWAR each year of his career, including a career-best 5.7 mark in 2022, when he finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year race.
While Kwan would give the Pirates an upgrade on both sides of the ball, there are some reasons to be cautious.
Kwan’s average exit velocity and hard hit percentage has ranked near the bottom of the league for much of his career. Once one of the faster runners in the league, Kwan now ranks slightly below league-average in sprint speed.
But despite the drawbacks, Kwan has been an impactful player. Though his power is limited by soft contact, Kwan has hit for average and twice has finished a season batting better than .290, and his expected batting average is consistently high. He doesn’t chase or strikeout much and hardly ever whiffs.
And while his speed isn’t what it once was, the drop off has yet to negatively impact his defense and he’s still been an effective base stealer.
Kwan is eligible for arbitration this offseason and is projected to earn $8.8 million. He’s again arbitration-eligible next winter before hitting free agency following the 2027 season.
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how about we trade Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington, Wilber Dotel and Triolo to the Orioles for Westburg, Cowser and Rustchman. With them having Bassallo and Beavers, i think they would consider it.
I think they will have Bassallo at 1B and keep Rutchsman behind the dish.
I think Mike Elias hangs up the phone quickly on this one. I’m not sure that package nets Westburg alone. Cowser for Barco would be worth a try.
I like Kwan’s OBP for the most part, but he’s an average hitter nothing more. Well, on THIS team he’s right behind Horwitz for best hitter. He’s a great defender but we need real offensive pieces.
He’ll cost some money to get, probably Ashcraft or Burrows or Oviedo plus more pieces. But are we sure Cleveland wants to get more pitchers from us??? 😀
We came in last by like 20 homers in MLB last year. Kwan doesn’t put a dent in that deficit. Great player, just not the profile we need right now.