Much has been made of the Cleveland Guardians' success with a relatively low MLB payroll -- and within an owner's lockout this winter looming, that's no small thing.
The Guardians' thrifty nature isn't only about avoiding big player salaries, though. A reality of keeping costs low is that roster turnover can be high, with Cleveland often choosing to say goodbye to one season's starters in favor of cheaper options. And it's not just the big stars, either. For every Francisco Lindor who signs a mega contract elsewhere, there are the numerous likes of Myles Straw, Andres Gimenez and Ahmed Rosario, who find themselves in new homes after multiple years of everyday roles in Cleveland.
The lone player who has been immune to the lineup jockeying has been Jose Ramirez. But is it time for another franchise stalwart to join him as a Cleveland lifer?
Left fielder Steven Kwan is entering his final year of salary arbitration. Thus far, Kwan and the Guardians have been able to avoid testy arbitration hearings, with Kwan playing this season on a $7.7 million contract, according to Spotrac. He's estimated to be worth $11.3 million in arbitration this offseason by MLB Trade Rumors, with the looming labor halt as a major what-if. Whatever collective bargaining world Kwan enters once the lockout is lifted, it's likely to look much different than it does now.
It's not expected that players like Kwan, who is eligible for free agency at the end of next season, would suddenly have their clocks extended. As opposed to a salary cap as the MLB Players Association is, it would be even more resistant to forcing current players to wait longer until free agency. Players such as Kwan would almost assuredly be grandfathered in under a new free agent timeline.
Regardless of how the new CBA looks, however, the Guardians will face a decision on whether to invest in Kwan long-term. He was credited with 5.3 bWAR this season and will likely earn a fifth Gold Glove. His 3.8 fWAR wasn't as gaudy, but it was still third-best among all regular left fielders. His peers on that list were the Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena, Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio, New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger and Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene. That's an incredibly mixed bag of veterans on huge contracts, up-and-comers on team-friendly deals, and late 20-somethings stuck in their arbitration era.
Given all that, it's difficult to estimate a dollar amount or contract length, especially if a new CBA dictates maximum contract figures. But with another typical season, Kwan would enter free agency in the winter of 2027 as one of the best two-way outfielders on the market -- at which point, he'd definitely be out of Cleveland's price range. (A salary cap wouldn't change that; no matter how much small-market fans might like to hope, a cap won't suddenly make a team like the Guardians give out major contracts. In such a world, even if, for instance, the Los Angeles Dodgers offered a max deal to Kwan, the Guardians simply wouldn't match it.) So locking up Kwan before he becomes a free agent is probably the only way he remains long-term.
Is Kwan worth it? He showed little sign of slowing down this season until he went cold in the playoffs. Still, one of Cleveland's last looks at Kwan was his impressive catch in center field to preserve the Guardians' two-run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Although the Guardians went on to lose that game and the series, it was a symbol of what Kwan brings to the team beyond his already impressive numbers.
It's almost, one might say, Jose Ramirez-esque.