The Guardians are listing Shane Bieber as the probable starter for tomorrow evening’s matchup with the Orioles. He’ll go up against Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer.
That indicates that Cleveland will reinstate Bieber from the 60-day injured list tomorrow. As reflected on the MLB.com injury tracker, the club is hoping for Bieber to throw around 80 pitches. The 2020 AL Cy Young winner tossed 64 pitches on Sunday in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Columbus.
Bieber hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 9. Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Guardians announced he’d been dealing with forearm discomfort. An MRI revealed elbow inflammation that led the club to shut him down entirely for a few weeks. While there was never any suggestion he could require surgery, the issue was serious enough to cost him almost all of the second half.
His return comes too late for Cleveland to make a move in the standings. They’ll be eliminated from postseason contention with their next loss or a Minnesota win. Barring a nine-game win streak to close out the year, they’ll finish with a sub-.500 record. Bieber’s return won’t mean much in the standings, though he’ll get to make two or three starts to hopefully demonstrate a clean bill of health heading into the offseason.
Assuming he’s healthy, Bieber figures to be a popular target in trade discussions. The Guardians have shown a willingness to move quality starters as they get close to free agency, dealing away the likes of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco. There was some thought they’d do the same with Bieber this summer, though his injury took that off the table. Cleveland did flip Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay for top first base prospect Kyle Manzardo instead.
Bieber is making just north of $10MM this season. He’ll be due a raise on that sum for what’ll be his final arbitration campaign next year. Bieber is coming off a relative down year by his standards. Prior to the stint on the injured list, he’d turned in a 3.77 ERA with a career-low 19.4% strikeout rate through 19 starts.
Opposing teams will surely still have interest in prying him from Cleveland. It remains to be seen if the offers will be strong enough for the Guardians to make a move. Cleveland figures to make another run at competing in the AL Central. The second-year trio of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen makes for a strong rotation nucleus, but Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie have struggled through injury-plagued 2023 campaigns.
McKenzie could also make it back in the coming days. MLB.com notes that the Guardians are hopeful the righty could take the ball in Sunday’s series finale; the club still lists their probable starter for that game as to be determined. The Guardians already have an opening on the 40-man roster for Bieber after waiving Matt Moore this week. They’d need to create a spot for McKenzie if he comes back this weekend, which could be accomplished by transferring Bibee to the 60-day IL due to his season-ending hip issue.
Don’t call it a comeback!
Call it a 29 team audition. Cleveland is showing everyone he’s healthy before they deal him.
I wonder what a rental like Bieber would net Cleveland in an offseason trade?
Maybe something like Rushing and Frasso from the Dodgers. Rushing has played some first base in addition to catcher
Good question about what Bieber’s value would be. I don’t think Rushing would have interest. And I will skip any surname puns. But he is a left-hitting c or 1b, correct? Cleveland doesn’t need those since the Naylor brothers are that and the top prospect is a left-hitting 1B too. Now an OF who hits righty…
Yeah good call. Maybe Andy Pages…
Vtadave
Fwiw (which is neither nothing, nor everything)
https://www.baseballtradevalues.com
Has Beiber at a sight negative value. So a top prospect like Rushing would seem to be off the table.
Rushing and Frasso? Either one would be an overpay for 1 expensive year of Bieber. Have you seen the guy pitch lately? Cleveland would be lucky to land a Jose Ramos and Mark Washington.
Just in time for nothing
“he’ll get to make two or three starts”
There’s virtually no chance any pitcher starting Friday will make three more starts this season, and certainly not Bieber.
Cleveland needs a major league impact right side hitter. It actually needs 2. How it does that is a mystery.
In nurse follars;
The pitching is fine. But the position players roster is simply awful. Little power. Little speed. A bunch of contact hitters that can’t make contact. The new catcher needs a lot of work – although they may shift him to 1B or DH. The D is below average.
The pitching is young and controlled – all they really have to trade that’s attractive is Bieber, and he won’t bring much in the offseason as teams want to see how he does in 2024.
Francona has already booked his operation. I suspect they promote from within. Hale? They need a new hitting coach and now a bench coach.
After Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Owen Miller (Brewers sent him back to AAA), Brayan Rocchio (he may be an average 2B), Nolan Jones (who Cleveland couldn’t do anything with but the Rockies could), Will Benson (who Cleveland couldn’t do anything with but the Reds could), Will Brennan and others, it’s hard for me to believe that any of their position prospects are about to come in and push the team to new heights.
Worse yet, their top position player prospects are now George Valera and Kyle Manzardo – yet 2 more LH hitters.
So in addition to a new manager and hitting coach, it might be time to look at the FO and who they draft, sign and trade for position playing youngsters that all seem to be as bad as the Yankees prospects. The entire scouting and development system needs to be reevaluated, restructured, and possibly replaced….and it’s going to take years for results to show.
Francona saved Shapiro / Antonetti and then prospered with Antonetti. The new owner takes over in a few years. The Red Sox may well be interested in Antonetti. Feeling like the end of an era.
P.S.
The Rays just promoted Junior Caminero – a 20 year-old RH hitting SS/3B that the Rays worked with in the minors this year. In return they got back Tobias Myers – 25 year-old relief pitcher that spent some time in Columbus in 2022 with a 6.00, then was designated for assignment.in July.
Hard to put all this on Antonetti. There are some major systematic problems with that organization.
They will certainly get offers this winter. But I could see them holding on, because the rotation isn’t as strong as it looks. Three rookies and three guys who were injured most of this year. Also, their depth is suspect beyond those six. Guardians may want to get out of the gate first and see how they’re looking. Unless of course, they can make another deal with the Padres!
I don’t know if Cleveland wants to give Shane $12-$14 million next year. Padres seem like a good trade partner if Snell leaves. They can sign Ohtani and trade for Bieber to fill in for the 2024 season, and Preller loves aging pitchers with decreasing velocity.
People are forgetting this team has blown 29 save opportunities this year. Sure the offense goes missing for stretches, but you get at least half of those blown games and this team is preparing for the playoffs not trade offs.