Dodgers Wanted All-Star Outfielder at Trade Deadline, But Wouldn't Meet Asking Price

The Dodgers' trade deadline "haul" such as it was, consisted of two major league players: pitcher Brock Stewart and outfielder Alex Call.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman cautioned months ago that he was not keen on paying the premium asking prices demanded of contending teams looking to improve their 26-man rosters before Thursday's 3 p.m. PT deadline. The non-blockbuster trades for Stewart, Call, and the deal that sent Dustin May to the Boston Red Sox for two outfield prospects should have come as no surprise.

The front office's behind-the-scenes conversations were at least substantive enough that the deals the Dodgers didn't make were a focal point of GM Brandon Gomes' postmortem call with reporters Thursday.

“As we’ve shown in the past, we’re always having those conversations on ways to add impact-type talent,” Gomes said.

Gomes went on to praise Call, a 30-year-old with 277 games of experience over four seasons at the MLB level. He's no star, but Gomes said Call is "a straight grinder" who "works at-bats."

The Dodgers had their eye on an outfielder with a similar offensive profile — one who made the American League All-Star team just this month. Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan is hitting .286 with a .350 on-base percentage and .408 slugging percentage this season. He's a three-time Gold Glove Award winner in left field, with a chance to win a fourth after his fourth MLB season ends later this year.

But the asking price for the 27-year-old was too high for the Dodgers' taste, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

"The team spent much of Thursday attempting to pry outfielder Steven Kwan from the Cleveland Guardians," Ardaya writes. "The asking price was steep – Leo De Vries, the headliner of the Padres’ package for (Mason) Miller, was the starting point for the Guardians’ ask for Kwan, according to a league source."

De Vries was ranked as the No. 3 prospect in baseball when the San Diego Padres traded him to the Athletics in a package to acquire Miller and starting pitcher JP Sears on Thursday. De Vries is the highest-ranked prospect by Baseball America to be traded at the deadline in eight years.

The Dodgers have six prospects listed in MLB Pipeline's Top 100. Four are outfielders — the same defensive position played by the two prospects they acquired for May. The deal that brought James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard over from Boston might have made more sense in the context of a trade deadline that — just as an example — sent Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope to the Guardians as the headliners in a package for Kwan.

On the other hand, the Guardians' deadline activity (rather, the lack thereof) suggests they were not interested in tearing down their team to the point where they could not contend in 2026. The Guardians traded former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber (who hadn't pitched this year while recovering from Tommy John surgery) and reliever Paul Sewald.

The 54-54 team otherwise stood pat.

“What I can confirm for Steven is that not only do we have a profound appreciation for what he's able to contribute on the baseball field and in the clubhouse,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said (via MLB.com's Tim Stebbins), “but so does the rest of Major League Baseball. We are really excited that he will continue to be with us moving forward.”