Steven Kwan keeps popping up as a name to watch for the SF Giants, but the fit is more complicated than it looks on the surface.
The Cleveland Guardians do not usually allow players to drift anywhere close to free agency, and Kwan has just one year of team control left. According to Robert Murray of FanSided, executives around the league believe he could be moved this offseason. If that happens, the Giants are expected to be in the mix, though they would not be alone.
Murray noted that the Giants have liked Kwan’s game for several seasons, and it’s easy to see why. He would give their outfield an immediate boost, and that group was one of the worst in baseball.
The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs could also have interest in the four-time Gold Glove winner, and the Los Angeles Dodgers could be involved as well. If San Francisco enters the chase, the competition figures to be intense.
Kwan is the kind of player Cleveland values, which is part of the problem for anyone hoping he becomes available. The Guardians generally work in a way that avoids losing key players for nothing after their rookie contracts run out. Instead, they try to turn that final year of control into return value through a trade.
That value is still real. Kwan is in the final year of arbitration, and MLB Trade Rumors projects him to make $11.3 million, a bargain for a player with his track record.
For the Giants, money would not be the issue. They need help in the outfield and have more than enough payroll room to fit Kwan in. In previous seasons, a deal for the 29-year-old would have made plenty of sense.
But the question heading into the 2027 season is whether it still does. The Giants are coming off a 65-win season, and while the outfield clearly needs to be redone, would paying the trade price for one season of Kwan really move them close enough to the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, or Los Angeles Dodgers?
There’s also the roster wrinkle. The Giants already have enough left-handed-hitting outfielders, and Kwan shares a similar issue against left-handed pitching. Even so, his defense, baserunning, and contact ability give him enough value to stay in the lineup in those matchups.
The bigger complication may be timing. With so much uncertainty around the 2027 season, a trade is not easy to line up, and the article notes that one might not happen until after any potential lockout is lifted.
Kwan is set to become a free agent after the 2027 season. He checks plenty of boxes the Giants like, and he also brings a local connection, having grown up in Fremont, California, where he attended Washington High School before going to Oregon State University. Still, San Francisco may not be good enough right now to make this kind of move worthwhile.
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