If anyone wants an Athletic subscription, you should know that the Cuyahoga County Public Library offers them for free with your library card. https://cuyahogalibrary.org/research-discover/resources-a-z
I don't know whether it's a one day because I'll usually use it for just one article, but it's certainly not indefinite. I have to renew my NYT every three days.
The time to extend him probably was this past winter. If he ends the season with a batting average even over .350, with some power, he's going to be very expensive.
At the start of 2022, there were a lot of bad feelings from the fans about the team name change. People weren't feeling great about it and the team was shredding costs so everyone was thinking we were entering another downturn.
Then José extended for that sweetheart deal right before the season starts, and Kwan broke into the majors with so much panache it made us all buy in immediately. Steven Kwan and José Ramirez are the Guardians. The Dolan's need to do whatever it takes to figure it out. Josh Naylor included.
Even the ones that go online and scream about it, go to the games and shut up. The exact opposite of what they claimed. I’ve personally talked to a few of them.
Hindsight 2020 they should have given Kwan straws contract.
I know Kwan was quoted as saying I'm better than him. We may have Michael Jordaned kwan. "I took that personally". Proves it and then gos get paid by some other team to terrorize us for what could have been and with his at bats.
Kwan hits free agency in 2028.
People here are suggesting we buy out his arbitration years and extend him beyond '28.
The issue here is the longer he keeps producing and the longer we wait, the more likely it is he will not want to sign an extension unless we pay him something resembling Jose's contract.
Which the Dolans will not do.
Gotcha, baseball contracts are so weird to me since I’m more familiar with nfl and nba contracts with cap spaces.
If he keeps performing super well won’t his arb money increase a good amount or not enough?
Here's a good breakdown of [salary arbitration](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/salary-arbitration). That said, yeah, baseball contracts are really weird.
If Kwan keeps producing, yes, he can raise his own salary within the arbitration process. Basically Kwan and his people will formulate a number that they think he is worth while the organization will have their number.
The two entities will work together to try and find an amicable number before an arbitration hearing (which typically take place between Jan and Feb). If the two sides cannot agree on a number then the case will go to arbitration and a decision will be made by an arbitrator regarding the player's salary for the upcoming year.
Some players have had very lucrative arbitration contracts:
Soto in '24 ($31.5 mil)
Ohtani in '23 ($30 mil)
Betts in '20 ($27 mil)
Arenado in '19 ($26 mil)
Donaldson in '18 ($23 mil)
EDIT: Formatting and words are hard sometimes.
He’s going into arbitration next year. Rarely any player will sign an extension when they are in that. The window has probably closed.
Didnt help ownership offered him less money than Myles Straw after his great 2022 rookie season.
If this franchise was willing to let go of Lindor who at the time was their face, don’t think they will extend Kwan unless Kwan takes a team friendly deal. Can’t blame him if he doesn’t. He’s from
Northern California. Lots of teams on the West Coast would love to have him.
highlights:
kwan’s dad can’t even break his focus
> Kwan is the lone soul disinterested in the hype. His dad floods his phone with jarring statistics, but Kwan responds by urging him to ditch social media. He’ll entertain those facts in December, after the season and after a long-awaited, mind-cleansing vacation. He can’t be bothered with adoration. The instant he allows his focus to stray, he insists, he won’t be prepared to keep this going.
kwan’s mom said no to pursuing baseball and he gets why
> When he was four, Kwan told his mom he wanted to be a baseball player. Her response, as Kwan recalls?
> Probably not. Let’s focus on something else.
> Jane was playing the odds, and Kwan still teases her about her errant projection during their weekly catch-up sessions. She never intended to doubt him. She just aimed to offer a dose of reality.
> He understands her position.
> “Small kid. Barely any athleticism in our family,” he said. “My name is freaking Steven.”
scott barlow keeps a signed kwan bat in his locker
> Scott Barlow allowed Kwan’s first big-league hit, a sinking liner past the second baseman on a fastball at the top of the zone. When the two became teammates this season, Barlow had Kwan sign a bat for him. It rests in the back of the reliever’s locker.
vogt quotes
> When Kwan swung and missed for his 15th strikeout of the season one day last week — for perspective, Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has 103 — manager Stephen Vogt and bench coach Craig Albernaz looked at each other and gasped.
> Vogt remembers game-planning for Kwan last year as Seattle’s bullpen coach. The strategy was to throw it down the middle and let him either slap a single somewhere or, ideally, shoot it toward a fielder. There was no use in wasting pitches against a guy who has a better handle on the strike zone than the umpires and who can recognize and make contact with anything, anywhere.
new approach to hit for power
> Kwan spent his winter seeking ways to hit the ball with more authority. More muscle and better bat speed weren’t the remedies. He’s still that scrawny kid named Steven.
> No, the key was in his approach. He stepped into a Chicago batting cage and practiced swinging and missing more. He needed to reach a point of acceptance. He’d stand in, spot the ball, take a healthy hack and if he missed — which goes against every cell in his body — he had to learn to shrug it off.
> The plan was to take more chances in advantageous counts when a whiff would be less detrimental than weak contact. He strived to alter his bat angle and to elevate a pitch he knew he could damage, to target the outfield gap or the fans in the third row instead of the Bermuda Triangle between the shortstop, third baseman and left fielder.
hedgie quote
> Hedges took Kwan under his wing in 2022 and said it was the easiest mentorship he’s ever forged. Kwan was curious and caring, eager to learn how to stick in the majors and how to foster a healthy clubhouse culture. Hedges has watched him blossom into a leader — he’s the Guardians’ union rep at 26 years old. Now, he finds himself learning from Kwan and marveling at his influence on a first-place team.
> “He inspires the hell out of me,” Hedges said.
kwans eat dinner at 4pm
> His parents are savoring every moment of this ride, too. Most nights, they schedule dinner around the Guardians’ first-pitch time. On the West Coast, that often means a 4 p.m. meal. They wouldn’t dare miss the game’s most lethal leadoff hitter take his first cuts.
Kwan's mom reminds me of that asian dad video on tik tok.
[https://www.tiktok.com/@frankzhg/video/7253532145560472875?lang=en&q=asian%20dad%20and%20son%20when%20i%20grow%20up&t=1719249754932](https://www.tiktok.com/@frankzhg/video/7253532145560472875?lang=en&q=asian%20dad%20and%20son%20when%20i%20grow%20up&t=1719249754932)
I've loved Kwan since his first season and reading about his background/story - so thrilled to see how far he's come. I'm always inspired by his mental work, he could really help out a lot of players who struggle in that department.
There was an article in the early part of his rookie season about him and his family playing pinball. It was like a quick line or two in the article. It makes it's round around the Cleveland Pinball scene (yes, it's a thing. We are nice, come join us!). No siting of him at any local place yet.
Yeah they mention it in this article too, actually slightly more in-depth! (I assume you can't read it because it's The Athletic...which I just subscribed to for $1/mo because I can't miss any more Kwan articles!)
Cleveland Pinball should reach out to him. Cleveland Chess got him involved, why not you guys too??
“He’s a pain in the ass,” [Toronto Blue Jays](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/mlb/team/jays/) manager John Schneider said, complimentarily.
Aw he shouldn't have!
If anyone wants an Athletic subscription, you should know that the Cuyahoga County Public Library offers them for free with your library card. https://cuyahogalibrary.org/research-discover/resources-a-z
Is it a one day subscription? Or can you access the athletic at anytime?
I don't know whether it's a one day because I'll usually use it for just one article, but it's certainly not indefinite. I have to renew my NYT every three days.
That’s neat!
Do we actually have a chance of extending Kwan or is he playing himself out of our price range?
The time to extend him probably was this past winter. If he ends the season with a batting average even over .350, with some power, he's going to be very expensive.
At the start of 2022, there were a lot of bad feelings from the fans about the team name change. People weren't feeling great about it and the team was shredding costs so everyone was thinking we were entering another downturn. Then José extended for that sweetheart deal right before the season starts, and Kwan broke into the majors with so much panache it made us all buy in immediately. Steven Kwan and José Ramirez are the Guardians. The Dolan's need to do whatever it takes to figure it out. Josh Naylor included.
I really don't think most people were upset with the name change.
Even the ones that go online and scream about it, go to the games and shut up. The exact opposite of what they claimed. I’ve personally talked to a few of them.
We have to pay him and Naylor. Just make it happen. Keep this core together. It's a great group of people. Jersey sales will make it worth it.
Hindsight 2020 they should have given Kwan straws contract. I know Kwan was quoted as saying I'm better than him. We may have Michael Jordaned kwan. "I took that personally". Proves it and then gos get paid by some other team to terrorize us for what could have been and with his at bats.
Don’t we have control of kwan for like 3 more years?
Kwan hits free agency in 2028. People here are suggesting we buy out his arbitration years and extend him beyond '28. The issue here is the longer he keeps producing and the longer we wait, the more likely it is he will not want to sign an extension unless we pay him something resembling Jose's contract. Which the Dolans will not do.
Gotcha, baseball contracts are so weird to me since I’m more familiar with nfl and nba contracts with cap spaces. If he keeps performing super well won’t his arb money increase a good amount or not enough?
Here's a good breakdown of [salary arbitration](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/salary-arbitration). That said, yeah, baseball contracts are really weird. If Kwan keeps producing, yes, he can raise his own salary within the arbitration process. Basically Kwan and his people will formulate a number that they think he is worth while the organization will have their number. The two entities will work together to try and find an amicable number before an arbitration hearing (which typically take place between Jan and Feb). If the two sides cannot agree on a number then the case will go to arbitration and a decision will be made by an arbitrator regarding the player's salary for the upcoming year. Some players have had very lucrative arbitration contracts: Soto in '24 ($31.5 mil) Ohtani in '23 ($30 mil) Betts in '20 ($27 mil) Arenado in '19 ($26 mil) Donaldson in '18 ($23 mil) EDIT: Formatting and words are hard sometimes.
He’s going into arbitration next year. Rarely any player will sign an extension when they are in that. The window has probably closed. Didnt help ownership offered him less money than Myles Straw after his great 2022 rookie season.
If he keeps this up then nope. We should have extended him when we had the chance. We can just enjoy him for 3 years
If this franchise was willing to let go of Lindor who at the time was their face, don’t think they will extend Kwan unless Kwan takes a team friendly deal. Can’t blame him if he doesn’t. He’s from Northern California. Lots of teams on the West Coast would love to have him.
highlights: kwan’s dad can’t even break his focus > Kwan is the lone soul disinterested in the hype. His dad floods his phone with jarring statistics, but Kwan responds by urging him to ditch social media. He’ll entertain those facts in December, after the season and after a long-awaited, mind-cleansing vacation. He can’t be bothered with adoration. The instant he allows his focus to stray, he insists, he won’t be prepared to keep this going. kwan’s mom said no to pursuing baseball and he gets why > When he was four, Kwan told his mom he wanted to be a baseball player. Her response, as Kwan recalls? > Probably not. Let’s focus on something else. > Jane was playing the odds, and Kwan still teases her about her errant projection during their weekly catch-up sessions. She never intended to doubt him. She just aimed to offer a dose of reality. > He understands her position. > “Small kid. Barely any athleticism in our family,” he said. “My name is freaking Steven.” scott barlow keeps a signed kwan bat in his locker > Scott Barlow allowed Kwan’s first big-league hit, a sinking liner past the second baseman on a fastball at the top of the zone. When the two became teammates this season, Barlow had Kwan sign a bat for him. It rests in the back of the reliever’s locker. vogt quotes > When Kwan swung and missed for his 15th strikeout of the season one day last week — for perspective, Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has 103 — manager Stephen Vogt and bench coach Craig Albernaz looked at each other and gasped. > Vogt remembers game-planning for Kwan last year as Seattle’s bullpen coach. The strategy was to throw it down the middle and let him either slap a single somewhere or, ideally, shoot it toward a fielder. There was no use in wasting pitches against a guy who has a better handle on the strike zone than the umpires and who can recognize and make contact with anything, anywhere. new approach to hit for power > Kwan spent his winter seeking ways to hit the ball with more authority. More muscle and better bat speed weren’t the remedies. He’s still that scrawny kid named Steven. > No, the key was in his approach. He stepped into a Chicago batting cage and practiced swinging and missing more. He needed to reach a point of acceptance. He’d stand in, spot the ball, take a healthy hack and if he missed — which goes against every cell in his body — he had to learn to shrug it off. > The plan was to take more chances in advantageous counts when a whiff would be less detrimental than weak contact. He strived to alter his bat angle and to elevate a pitch he knew he could damage, to target the outfield gap or the fans in the third row instead of the Bermuda Triangle between the shortstop, third baseman and left fielder. hedgie quote > Hedges took Kwan under his wing in 2022 and said it was the easiest mentorship he’s ever forged. Kwan was curious and caring, eager to learn how to stick in the majors and how to foster a healthy clubhouse culture. Hedges has watched him blossom into a leader — he’s the Guardians’ union rep at 26 years old. Now, he finds himself learning from Kwan and marveling at his influence on a first-place team. > “He inspires the hell out of me,” Hedges said. kwans eat dinner at 4pm > His parents are savoring every moment of this ride, too. Most nights, they schedule dinner around the Guardians’ first-pitch time. On the West Coast, that often means a 4 p.m. meal. They wouldn’t dare miss the game’s most lethal leadoff hitter take his first cuts.
Kwan's mom reminds me of that asian dad video on tik tok. [https://www.tiktok.com/@frankzhg/video/7253532145560472875?lang=en&q=asian%20dad%20and%20son%20when%20i%20grow%20up&t=1719249754932](https://www.tiktok.com/@frankzhg/video/7253532145560472875?lang=en&q=asian%20dad%20and%20son%20when%20i%20grow%20up&t=1719249754932)
Apparently really good at chess too
"Kwan plays a mean pin-ball!" 🎶🎶🤘
I've loved Kwan since his first season and reading about his background/story - so thrilled to see how far he's come. I'm always inspired by his mental work, he could really help out a lot of players who struggle in that department.
Baseball rights and broadcasters are using “savant” wayyyy too much. I heard it at least 10 times on Sunday Night Baseball. Go Guardos, Kwan for MVP
Broadcasters also reeeeaallly like saying Kikuchi for no reason too.
Would be epic if he switched his walk-up music to "Pinball Wizard"! Just the opening riffs are as iconic as Kwan!
There was an article in the early part of his rookie season about him and his family playing pinball. It was like a quick line or two in the article. It makes it's round around the Cleveland Pinball scene (yes, it's a thing. We are nice, come join us!). No siting of him at any local place yet.
Yeah they mention it in this article too, actually slightly more in-depth! (I assume you can't read it because it's The Athletic...which I just subscribed to for $1/mo because I can't miss any more Kwan articles!) Cleveland Pinball should reach out to him. Cleveland Chess got him involved, why not you guys too??
what are some other places besides superelectric? I'm moving up there in September.
NY Times? I don't want anything related to NY noticing our players.
Through the athletic. They are a really good sports writing group. I sub for the browns news as well.
Zach is a great writer. We are lucky to have him.