Yesterday’s loss to the Minnesota Twins looks like an inflection point for the Cleveland Guardians’ leadoff hitter, Steven Kwan.
Cleveland, OH
Guardians Set Off Alarm Bells for Kwan Yesterday
In the bottom of the 8th inning, with the Guardians trailing 5-3, David Fry and Brayan Rocchio singled to leadoff an inning against right-handed reliever Luis Garcia. For his career, Garcia has been a very serviceable relief pitcher with a 4.20 ERA. However, he is 39 years old and, as of today, has an ERA of 10.50 and an FIP of 6.12. So, to be clear, while potentially a competent middle reliever, not someone that an all-star hitter hitting leadoff should feel anything less than fully confident to get a hit or a walk.
Enter Steven Kwan. As of today, he has a 67 wRC+. He is having an awful year, no doubt. But, it’s May and he has a career wRC+ of 109. He also has a career 117 wRC+ vs. RHP. He also has a 213 wRC+ for his career in 3-1 counts. And, guess what? Steven Kwan worked a 3-1 count.
NOW enter Tony Arnerich, acting manager of the Guardians yesterday as Stephen Vogt dealt with what I hope is simply a nasty cold (he sounded TERRIBLE in interviews on Saturday). Arnerich put the sacrifice bunt sign on for Steven Kwan. He clarified this was the case after the game, as reported by Cade Cracas of Sports Illustrated on Twitter:
Are you curious how often a team’s leadoff hitter has been asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt in a 3-1 count with his team down 2 runs late in the game and at least one runner in scoring position? Well, I can tell you that from 2023 until yesterday, it did not happen one time. Let’s look further back… oh, ok, in the past decade prior to yesterday, it happened exactly ONE time… for the Chicago Cubs in 2022.
Here’s the thing… I don’t even know that having Kwan bunt was 100% the wrong call. I mean, aside from the fact that I am fundamentally opposed to sacrifice bunts except in situations where one run wins the game and the sacrifice bunt is with no outs to get a runner to third by an offensively-challenged hitter who knows how to execute a bunt, I think I understand why Arnerich decided his best hope was sacrificing Kwan’s chances for a hit and punting things to Chase DeLauter and Jose Ramirez. It’s because Arnerich recognizes that Kwan is nowhere near a 109 wRC+ or 117 wRC+ hitter as he currently exists.
We can’t say “Oh, Arnerich is new to the team, he doesn’t know about good Kwan.” Arnerich has to know these players inside and out, their present and their past and projected future. He knows Kwan has traditionally handled RBI opportunities well and has been very effective in 3-1 counts. If he didn’t know that, well, to be honest, he should be fired for lack of preparation. But, I think he did know that. I think he made the very pragmatic assessment that Kwan was more likely to provide a 67 wRC+ output in that situation which would make advancing the runners to get to actual good hitters a much riskier proposition.
Last night needs to be the flare fired off by the Guardians’ bench coach to the team to say “Hey, it’s time to move Steven Kwan from the leadoff spot.” It’s time to platoon Kwan vs. LHP. It’s time to let Kwan have more room to breath to figure out if he can get back to the hitter he was before June 2025. From June 2025 until now, Kwan has a 77 wRC+. He’s still walking at a good rate and striking out at a low rate. He’s just simply not hitting the ball well at all with a 15.6% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 85 mph, and a 1.4% barrel rate. He is Austin Hedges (well, prior to this season) who strikes out a lot less. And, yes, that is the kind of player you can justify asking to sacrifice bunt to give your actual good hitters a chance to win you the game, even though a sacrifice bunt down two STILL seems insane.
After last night, the Guardians cannot have it both ways. Either Kwan is a leadoff hitter and should be trusted to figure it out and HIT. OR, he is what Arnerich told us last night… a bottom of the order hitter who should only be looking to flip the order over to hitters who can actually imapct the baseball. I know it’s a hard conversation and I know Kwan is a selfless player who volunteered to switch to centerfield to help the team, even having won four consecutive gold gloves in his previous position. You hate showing any lack of confidence in him, Vogter. But, there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling a struggling veteran, “We are taking some pressure off you and batting you 7th for a while. We’d love to have you back in the leadoff spot as soon as possible. We are going to give you more days off to try to fix what’s wrong and work with our supposedly competent hitting staff. We believe in you and this is a chance to take a deep breath and get back to being you.”
Will moving Steven Kwan down in the order solve the Guardians’ hitting issues? Of course not. But, it’s a simple, straight-forward way to try to help solve KWAN’S hitting issues, who remains a key to getting this offense humming. I would immediately install Travis Bazzana as the leadoff hitter and let him, DeLauter and Ramirez do their absolute best to drive pitchers insane for three batters for a while. But, after the message your bench coach sent last night, you simply cannot continue to bat Kwan leadoff and hope things magically change.
The next step towards a true NBA Finals run is perplexing, to say the least, for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even though the Cavs reached the Eastern Conference Finals, they finished the 2026 Playoffs with an 8-10 record, which is the worst possible record for any team to have at that stage of the postseason.
Entering the offseason, chatter is centered around Cleveland either cashing in everything for a 2027 run or tearing down the core to enter a rebuild. Ultimately, the Cavs are incapable of the latter with depleted draft capital and few young players left on the roster. Staying the course and taking steps towards a more well-rounded roster is the only option available to the Cleveland basketball club.
The NBA Draft offers the Cavaliers the best opportunity to do so, finding young talent on team-friendly contracts. Currently, however, the Cavs’ draft capital is minimal at best with no control over their first-round picks until 2030 and no second-round draft picks for the foreseeable future.
Last summer, the Cavaliers entered the new second apron of the luxury tax, a new, highly restrictive tier for the highest-paying franchises. Cleveland was the only team to enter the apron last summer and not find a way out. As the league’s most expensive team, the Cavaliers must discover routes to add talent and manipulate their cap space.
Sitting at 29th overall this year, Cleveland needs navigate the draft with more in mind than the best talent on the board after 28 picks. To win the draft this year, the Cavs must make an unorthodox, unexpected move.
The Cavaliers need to trade away their draft pick
Many of the best talent expected to be available in the late first round has opted to return to college, selecting the NIL path over an immediate rise to the pros. Names like Tounde Yessoufou, Amari Allen and Tyler Tanner are out of the draft and unavailable for the Cavaliers.
For a team looking for any opportunity to improve financial flexibility, the Cavaliers should be wary of selecting in the first round at all with so much talent leaving the draft entirely. This year, a first-year player selected at pick 29 will be guaranteed a salary of $3,018,240. With so many prospects avoiding the draft, the talent available for the Cavaliers will be more akin to a typical second-rounder, making that $3 million price tag impractical.
Cleveland saw success last season in the second round, grabbing Tyrese Proctor and signing him to a multi-year standard contract. While a standard deal is rare for a second-round prospect to receive immediately, the Cavs did so to add a young, promising rookie on a cost-controlled contract.
Second-round players are not guaranteed any salaries or a main roster spot. Often, players in the second round enter a two-way deal. As of pick 31 and beyond, the Cavaliers would have better financial control for the young talent.
If the Cavs place their pick on the trade market, they could fall back into the early second round and accumulate another two second-round picks for the future in order to replicate their Proctor gamble. While players like Allen and Yessoufou are off the table, plenty of other talents will still be on the board in the early second round for the Cavaliers to target.
The San Antonio Spurs (42 and 44), Sacramento Kings (34 and 45) and Brooklyn Nets (33 and 43) have multiple second-round picks this year, which would make a trade with the Cavs to move into the first round a great deal on both sides.
Entering next season with another affordable rookie and future second-round picks is an invaluable win for a team with such an inflated salary sheet. The Cleveland Cavaliers are not likely to remain in the second apron longer than team owner Dan Gilbert deems necessary, and finding creative paths to financial freedom will be paramount to stay competitive within the confines of the new luxury tax system.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers lost general manager Mike Gansey after his promotion to president of basketball operations with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now Cleveland’s president of basketball operations, Koby Altman, and owner Dan Gilbert must find a replacement for Gansey.
The good news is that the replacement search should be somewhat easy, as the team already has a qualified candidate in waiting.
Assistant general manager Brandon Weems should be promoted.
Weems joined the organization in 2015, but his Cleveland roots run much deeper than that. He’s an Akron native that played high school basketball at St. Vincent St. Mary High School. You guessed it, he’s childhood friends with free agent superstar LeBron James. They played peewee football together before going on to win multiple state championships in high school basketball.
But this is a hire that would do more than pander to James, who is still contemplating his NBA future according to several reports. It would continue Cleveland’s internal stability. Altman has developed a culture of consistency, calculated decision making and player development. Weems has been around the organization from its championship-winning season in 2016 through the rebuilding years and into an Eastern Conference championship contender.
After Weems was done playing, he started a coaching journey at Kentucky under John Calipari. He spent three seasons and was part of the 2012 championship-winning team. After that, he served as an assistant coach at Oakland University in Michigan.
He’s partly responsible for the success of expediting the Cavs out of the NBA Draft Lottery and into a constant playoff contender.
Consistently being promoted within the organization, Weems oversees Cleveland’s amateur scouting efforts. He also has scouting duties at the college and international ranks. Weems is also responsible for assisting Gansey with NBA Draft preparation, from scouting to player rankings and information gathering on each prospect.
The Cavs have consistently drafted well since Weems joined the organization. Outside of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, the Cavs also have more recently hit on Jaylon Tyson and Tyrese Proctor.
The elephant in the room – LeBron
According to Altman, the Cavaliers plan on running this thing back. At his end of season media availability, Cleveland’s president of basketball operations stated his belief in winning a championship with Mitchell as the team’s best player. He sounded committed to Mobley, James Harden and Jarrett Allen.
While keeping the core intact, another obvious move would be pursuing LeBron in free agency. According to reports, James felt “unappreciated” at times throughout the season by the Los Angeles Lakers organization.
Desperate for a championship, the Cavs wouldn’t take LeBron’s mindset for granted. It’s a reunion that makes plenty of sense.
Weems’ connection with LeBron is obvious. It would be a hire that would move the organization another step closer to winning a championship, especially if they land LeBron. But Weems would also be a great partner for Altman to drive the Cavaliers forward into the future, too.
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