Toronto Blue Jays trade for Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber
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The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians.
According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, Blue Jays pitching prospect Khal Stephen will be heading to the Guardians in a straight one-for-one deal.
Blue Jays reportedly acquire RHP Shane Bieber from Guardians, per multiple reports including MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman.
Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return Cleveland gets Blue Jays No. 5 pitching prospect Khal Stephen.
Shane Bieber is a great pick up by the Blue Jays but comes with a high level of risk
The Blue Jays front office sometimes gets criticized for being risk-averse, but getting Shane Bieber on his way back from Tommy John as a rental is as risky as it gets.
Could be a stroke of genius, but could easily crash and burn. Not the sort of move this regime is known for.
Could be a stroke of genius, but could easily crash and burn. Not the sort of move this regime is known for.
Bieber hit free agency after last season and re-signed with the Guardians. It was a two-year, $26MM deal but with the second season being a player option.
He is making $10MM here in 2025 and then the option is valued at $16MM with a $4MM buyout.
That deal reflected the uncertainty around Bieber. He was clearly going to miss some time to start the 2025 campaign but was certainly a possibility for a second-half return.
The deal allowed him to bank some notable earnings with the second year being a safety net for the event he experienced setbacks in his recovery.
But if he came back and returned to his dominant form or even just a pretty good form, he would have the chance to return to free agency and secure a larger guarantee.
The uncertainty is still present now. Bieber started a rehab assignment in late May and was targeting a late June return. That didn't come to pass. After just one rehab outing, he was shut down due to renewed elbow soreness.
He restarted his rehab in the middle of July. He has made three rehab starts in the past few weeks, building from two innings in the first game, to three and four innings in the subsequent appearances.
In his nine total innings over those three games, he allowed two earned runs with 16 strikeouts, one walk, one hit-by-pitch and six hits.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 31 | 327 ANSWERS Toronto Blue Jays trade for Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber Is Shane Bieber for Khal Stephen a good trade for the Blue Jays? | ||
| Yes | 232 | 70.9 % |
| No | 26 | 8 % |
| Too early to tell | 69 | 21.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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