The Guardians have signed Tanner Bibee to a five-year contract extension that includes a club option for the 2030 season, according to MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (multiple links) reports that Bibee will receive at least $48MM in guaranteed money. As per Meisel, the contract breaks down as a $2MM signing bonus and a $3MM salary this season, $4MM in 2026, $7MM in 2027, $10MM in 2028, $21MM in 2029, and then Cleveland holds a $21MM club option for 2030 with a $1MM buyout.
Bibee just turned 26 earlier this month, so he gets a late birthday present in the form of a life-changing contract. Bibee has exactly two years of MLB service time, and his $48MM deal ranks as the third-most money ever given to a pitcher with between two years and two years and 171 days of service time. The 2025 season was Bibee’s final pre-arbitration year, so the extension covers all three of his arb-eligible years and at least one of his free agent years.
A fifth-round pick out of Cal State Fullerton in the 2021 draft, Bibee quickly became the latest quality arm to emerge from Cleveland’s pitching development factory. Bibee attracted top-100 prospect attention entering the 2023 season, and he immediately delivered on that potential by posting a 2.98 ERA in 142 innings with the Guardians. That performance earned him a second-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting, and subsequently a full year of service time, as per the rules of the league’s Prospect Promotion Incentive plan.
There was no sophomore slump in the follow-up, as Bibee had a 3.47 ERA in 173 2/3 frames last season, with improved strikeout and walk rates from his rookie year. Bibee also got his first turn on the postseason stage, with a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings during the Guards’ run to the ALCS. Perhaps the only minor red flag was that Bibee (an average velocity pitcher) saw his fastball drop off rather drastically in effectiveness from 2023 to 2024, but that was balanced out by his cutter becoming an even more effective pitch.
Bibee becomes the latest in a decades-long line of quality players the Cleveland organization has signed to early-career extensions. Identifying and locking up talent has been perhaps the key plank of the team’s success over the years, given how the smaller-market Guardians rarely sign their players to secondary contracts or big free agent deals. Jose Ramirez is a rare example of a Guardians player who did ink a second extension to remain in the Cleve, and Ramirez and Bibee are now the only Guards players signed to guaranteed money beyond the 2026 season. The Guardians do have some control over Emmanuel Clase and Trevor Stephan in the form of club options covering their 2027 and 2028 seasons, as per the terms of their own extensions.
If Ramirez is the cornerstone of the position-player mix, Bibee now has a similar status as the key figure of the Guardians’ rotation for the remainder of the decade. Bibee already stepped up as a pillar of stability in what was an uncharacteristically so-so year for the Cleveland rotation as a whole, and he’ll look to again be the ace of a staff that includes Ben Lively, Logan Allen, Gavin Williams, and new arrival Luis Ortiz. Longtime ace Shane Bieber re-signed with the Guards in December and is expected to return around midseason once he fully recovers from Tommy John surgery.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
A club option for 2023? What happened to proofreading?
And they added more info and still missed it, lol
“Happened to proofreading”…I’m not trying to be a wiseass, but proofreaders don’t work for free.
A baseball website where 90% of the users don’t pay any fees and utilize the site for free will obviously have trouble paying for and affording proofreaders.
I was taught to proofread everything I submitted myself when I was 12. You don’t need to hire someone to proofread your work, you can just read through it yourself a couple of times and it doesn’t cost anything. It’s simple, easy, cheap and cuts down on the chances of you looking like a moron. Now having said that, I’m not gonna proofread this comment….I’m just gonna submit it and run the risk of looking like a Mormon myself.
I see what you there did.
I enjoy seeing commenter’s think and then comment rather than comment on their gut reaction. Thanks mlb fan
No excuse, mlb fan. My delicate eyes won’t allow such insolence as others expecting to be compensated for their work. What about me!!??
“Won’t allow such insolence as others expecting to be compensated”…
You don’t believe that people should be able to earn a living and liveable wages?
So, what you’re really telling me is that you’re a socialist?
mlb fan,
I’m pretty sure 3768902 was being sarcastic. Maybe I’ll call and ask. Just need the area code.
Yes, sorry, I was joking
With this kind of content the users will continue to never pay any fees.
Why bother? Just let it fly, wait 30 seconds for an angry comment and correct before 99.9% of people see it.
Hey Mark, while I was reading this article I noticed you ACCIDENTALLY put “club option for 2023”. Just a heads up!
@101 dw I got you
You must be a blast at parties!
I like to think that Bronson Arroyo is the big act at ChetLemonAid.
But I hate to think that Chet Lemon needs so much help that a music festival fundraiser is held for him.
People freak out over the slightest discrepancy. I am sure everyone knew exactly what Mark intended and that it was an inconsequential typo. If only we could take a fine toothed comb thru your life and nitpick every minor lapse. Keyboard warriors are hilarious.
An option for the 2023 season? Huh?
Typo, its fixed now to 2030.
Wasnt bibee entering FA after 2029, so this buys them just 1 xtra yr? Or is the point to buy out his arbitration yrs in anticipation of some dominant seasons where he’ll request more than they just gave him today?
I believe after 2028 he was.
But he debuted a month into 2023 so wouldnt CLE gain 7th yr? 2023-2029?
chandlerbing: He finished 2nd in ROY voting, which earned him a FULL YEAR of service time. If you don’t want to take my word for it, you can reread the article. It’s very plainly stated.
@prospect
that info wasnt there, they just added it in
even if it was there, which it wasnt, you dont need to be rude about it
jeez
for those of you who are not total a-holes, yes the full details are that “a full year of service time if they finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, so long as they were featured on at least two preseason Top-100 prospect lists from ESPN, Baseball America, and MLB Pipeline”
these new rules are getting crazier and crazier. CLE lost an entire year bc he was on some espn list
Miss Chanandler Bong,
Those new rules have been in place for a few years and are a nice improvement for top young players. It’s his ROY finish much more than “bc he was on some ESPN list” that he earned a full year of service time.
By 2029 $21m will be a bargain for this guy. They’ll be paying 5th starters that by 2029… In other news the Cleveland team will be trading his butt in 2029!
What kind of incentive is it for low revenue, low headline markets, really? It’s not a “nice improvement,” it’s an impediment. CLE would never have brought up Bibee when they did just to try and win some stupid award and get a draft pick who has scant chance to measure up to one less controllable year of Tanner. Bibee was only promoted because CLE lost 4/5 of its rotation early in 2023 and it cost them, big-time. You can mark it down: CLE won’t be interested in doing that again, nor should they. It’s a rule that only favors big markets for whom such issues as “controllable years” don’t even factor in their considerations since they can sign whoever they want and whose rookies get more attention for awards than other teams do. Dumb, dumb rule. Fortunately, Juan Brito wasn’t on any of those idiot lists so CLE can promote him without fear that he’ll compete for ROY and cost the team controllable service time.
Why should he re-read the article? The writer didn’t take the time to do so. (I luv a running joke!)
Not so! If he hadn’t been on the list, the team gets nada, and he gets nada.
Yep, and if he keeps pitching like he has been, he’d make more in his arb years. This seems like a prudent way for Cleveland to lock him through 2030 while paying him slightly elevated salary up front and his pre-arbitration years (probably only ’25 & ’26).
So they’ll be getting him at a very good price for ’27-’29.
One year + one option. The option is probably the important thing. Unfortunately, it seems that you can add 14 months of down time for a lot of pitchers.
So the Dodgers and others have been deferring money into the future, Are the Guardians moving money into the past?
Thought you had something there, huh?
There was a typo when it was published that said club option for 2023. As deferral jokes go it was a step above 90%.
PerfectGame has now been downgraded to NoHitter.
It was a valiant effort in flipping the script on the tired deferral jokes, though!
At least you didn’t drop him down to Quality Start!
Good move for the Guardians, cost certainty and a couple of free agent years
Wow they didn’t trade him with one year of arb left for pre arb players. Congrats Cleveland fans it looks like a good deal.
They can still move him in ’29 or ’30 dependent on situation/outlook in those seasons.
…And they will
I wish someone would give me a birthday present like that. All I get are sweaters
I’ve got several shares of Bee Bee Bluff this year. Have a great year kid
I plan on doing the same tomorrow!
FYI – he’d be a free agent after the 2028 season. So this contract sets the price for all three years of his arbitration (2026 through 2028), his first year of free agency (2029), and second year of FA (2030) if they pick up the club option (if i’m reading that right).
The only downside for Bibee is if he’s a dominant horse through the contract. And if he is, he’ll likely get that optioned picked up. Suddenly the total of the contract looks more acceptable. Of course, by 2030 he may actually be worth 40 million per. I wouldn’t bank on that though, even if he is good.
For the Tribe, short of him being injured it’s probably a good deal. He’s probably not going to be atrocious.
As close to as good of deal for both sides as you can probably get.
Seems he was pitching through shoulder pain a good chunk of last season. That would be a motivator to take less than he’d get during arb years by pitching okay, let alone really well.
So they will trade him after 3 years so they can get a better return with 2 years remaining on his contract. No way Cleveland is going to pay a player $21 million in year 5.
Jose Ramirez made $22M in 2022.
Why is it necessary to point out facts to someone who says such ridiculous things? Especially someone who consistently whines about CLE not spending, then still whines when they do.
CLE will pay anyone if they’re worth it, including Tanner Bibee. What they refuse to do is overpay someone or pay a player whose overall team contributions can be replaced for a far lower cost.
That’s just Baseball Smarts 101.
When Bibee is traded in 2028, you’ll conveniently forget your comment. When the Guards sign a pitcher to an extension, it’s like being told you have a finite time to live after a bad prognosis. So we now know we can enjoy Bibee for the next 3 years because he’ll be pitching elsewhere in year 4.
Bibee will be pitching elsewhere in 2028. That’s the reality for fans of the Guardians.
Really??? When has that ever happened that they’ve signed an extension and then traded them when they still had control? In 4 years $20 million might be a reasonable salary for a pitcher. Of course if there is even any baseball left after the collective bargaining agreement expires in 2 years. What will you think if he blows out his arm in 3 years and has no trade value and they’re stuck. They are taking a risk here and should be applauded for attempting to reward good players.
Baseball smarts 101 tells knowledgeable fans that Bibee will be pitching for another team after 2028.
If it’s the smart thing to do, all fans should be for it. But you’re not one of those, you’re just a whiner. You think Tanner Bibee was “fooled” into signing this contract? “OMG, I thought I’d be in Cleveland forever! Boo-hoo!”
They might want to do the same with Gavin Williams a year from now based on his trajectory. There’s no guarantee Bieber will exercise his player option for ‘26, and McKenzie seems to be pitching his way out of the rotation and Logan Allen is a wildcard at this point.
The difference is the “Big Rig” is all about the cash, having signed with Scott Boras. When you sign with Boras, extensions are out of the question. You’re shooting for a jackpot. Gavin won’t learn from Shane’s experience like Tanner did. Look for Cleveland to move Gavin’s multi-million dollar arm (and ten cent head) whenever he hits his peak. Let’s just hope there is one.
It’s the next evolution of the Braves’ playbook, and we’re likely to see more teams adopt this model soon. Atlanta’s approach is about locking in talent ASAP. Cleveland’s move with Bibee is a deliberate service-time manipulation flip, where they let the PPI rule accelerate his timeline, then locked him in before he could truly cash in.
True and not arguing that, but also, I’d think if I were a good not superstar pitcher, I might be good with locking in a nice medium contract while I could. Sucks but as we know, pitchers break. I think I like this deal. Generally.
Sure seems like he just cashed in, truly!
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it in a Guardians article on here, but I live in northeast Ohio and I’ve never even once heard anyone else call it “the Cleve”
Cleve isn’t that the dude with the shaggy Wiley Wiggins look who used to pitch for the Guarfians but not on his 3rd tour w the Chisox
No, The Cleve is The Dude’s edgier cousin who is usually found at bowling allies along the southern coast of Lake Erie.
Those Nihlists! They offed Donny
It’s the movie that Christopher made in The Sopranos”.
Nor should they. Ugh.
Seems light for a #2 starter who’ll turn in a top 10 vote for the Cy in at least one of the next four seasons, and given he’s selling his age 30-31 seasons with a cheap out on the latter for whomever the Guards trade him to.
This guy good when he’s on he’s on hurling bibbees
More like a guaranteed $16 milli from the Cleveland Lakers and another $53 mill from a Yankee to be named later amirite?