The players who surprisingly stayed put at MLB trade deadline

In the hours and days after the MLB trade deadline, all the talk is about the players who are on the move. 

But sometimes, it’s the players who didn’t get traded that are just as big a story. 

Despite a flurry of moves across the league the past few days, several stars who looked like they may be in a new uniform come August stood pat. 

Steven Kwan, perhaps the best position player in trade talks this July, stayed in Cleveland after the Guardians’ asking price wasn’t quite met despite reported interest from a half-dozen teams. 

The Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Reds and Padres all reportedly registered varying degrees of interest in the Gold Glove outfielder, but with two more seasons of team control after this year, the Guardians held on to him. 

Two former aces having down years — the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara and the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen — were supposedly on the market for teams that may have wanted to take a gamble on a struggling starter. 

The Padres, who were one of the busiest teams at the deadline, trading for Mason Miller, J.P. Sears, Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano, canvassed the league for Dylan Cease but opted to hang onto him.

For a moment on Thursday, Cease appeared to be headed to Houston with The Post’s Jon Heyman reporting that the “Astros [were] working to try to land” him. 

The Twins didn’t get nearly as close to dealing Joe Ryan, although the right-hander garnered plenty of interest across the league. 

The same could be said about Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore. 

With an outfield logjam in Boston, the Red Sox’s Jarren Duran also found himself in trade rumors, with the Padres expressing interest two months ago, but he’s also staying in Beantown.