Aug. 22: The Blue Jays announced that Bieber has been reinstated from the 60-day IL, as planned. He’ll start tonight’s game.
Aug. 18: Right-hander Shane Bieber will start for the Blue Jays on Friday. Manager John Schneider gave the news to reporters, including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic, prior to today’s game. Bieber is currently on the 60-day injured list and will need to be added to the roster before that start. The 40-man roster currently has a vacancy. If that is not filled before Friday, then only a corresponding active roster move will be required.
Bieber will be making his anticipated team debut in Miami as the Jays face the Marlins. The Jays just acquired Bieber at the deadline, even though he had not yet finished his recovery from 2024 Tommy John surgery.
The Jays are hoping that Bieber was their best bet for upgrading their playoff rotation. Their rotation otherwise features a group of solid mid-rotation type of guys. Max Scherzer has been an ace in the past but is now 41 years old and has been working around an ongoing thumb problem. Eric Lauer has an excellent 2.76 earned run average this year but he has middling velocity and he hardly pitched in the majors over the previous two years. Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt are reliable veterans but few would consider them to be aces.
The peak version of Bieber would jump to the front of the group, which is why the Jays were willing to give up prospect Khal Stephen to get him. Bieber won a Cy Young award back in 2020. He had a 1.63 ERA in that shortened season, striking out 41.1% of batters faced. No one would have expected him to maintain that level of production forever. His 2021 season was a drop from those heights but still very good. He had a 3.17 ERA and 31.1% strikeout rate, though a subscapularis strain knocked him out of action for about three months.
In 2022, he logged 200 innings with a 2.88 ERA but his strikeout rate dropped further to 25%. The following year, he only struck out 20.1% of batters faced as his ERA climbed to 3.80. The first warning signs of elbow trouble appeared that year, as inflammation put him on the IL for about two months. He began 2024 healthy but made just two starts before getting knocked to the surgeon’s table.
What version of Bieber shows up now is anyone’s guess. For what it’s worth, he has thrown 29 minor league innings this year while rehabbing with a 1.86 ERA and 34.6% strikeout rate. Though only the most recent three outings have been at the Triple-A level, with a 24.6% strikeout rate in those. He has been averaging 92.8 miles per hour on his fastball. He was at 94.1 mph back in 2020 but dropped to 92.7 in 2021 and then was in the 91-92 range after that.
The Jays don’t necessarily need Bieber to immediately be perfect right away. They are basically assured a playoff spot now and will likely be more concerned by what they can get out of Bieber in October. That gives them a bit more than a month to assess his stuff and results. The fact that his velo has come back in Triple-A is nice but that’s not going to be enough. Sandy Alcantara has basically got his velo to pre-surgery levels this year but has posted a 6.31 ERA on the season.
It’s unclear if the Jays will go with a six-man rotation or bump someone to a long relief role. They Jays start a series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh tonight, with Gausman, Scherzer and Bassitt the scheduled starters. They are off on Thursday. Schneider said today, per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, that Saturday’s and Sunday’s starters are to be determined.
While the coming weeks are obviously important for the Blue Jays, they will be huge for Bieber personally as well. At season’s end, he will be choosing between a $16MM player option for 2026 and a $4MM buyout. If healthy and in good form, he should have an easy choice to take the buyout. Though if he struggles or gets hurt again, the choice will get tougher.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
We ride at dawn!
He’s pitched well in the minors. This should give the Jays a boost.
Bieber Fever is about to reach an all-time high if he regains his form.
So long as Diddy didn’t touch him he should be fine.
Trump will pardon the Diddy.
Diddy basically already got the pardon from the prosecutor! Deepstate saves the day for Diddy!
I wonder if there was a fierce bidding war at the trade deadline for Bieber and it just happened Atkins came out with the best prospect package OR …Atkins was the only GM to even think about trading for Bieber and so won the bidding by default because there was no other competition.
I’m surprised Preller didn’t give up a top ten prospect for him
After everything Preller traded from the minors over the last few years, their top ten was everyone else’s top 20
Probably not fierce but Jays can’t be the only team making the Guards an offer for Bieber.
I’m guessing that he got a lot of attention. They gave a pretty decent prospect for him.
Justin time.
Nobody in their right mind boycotts Sydney Sweeney.
Except JoelP/BlackPink/Backinthebleachers.
@its_happening
What’s the tariff rate attached to her?
Tariff?
100%, as in 10 out of 10.
Which are you?
Neither.
Couldn’t care less about the made up things people get upset about.
“Don’t ask life to be fair. Ask life to be worth it.” as I was told a long time ago. Quit b’tchn about it on a baseball forum and go take some action to make the changes you want, ya buffoon.
Boycott you promote unfairness by virtue of your name.
Boycott-I grew with little money but a great family. Is that fair, unfair, or more than fair?
JoeBrady: More Than Fair, Family is everything. Money comes, goes, gets spent, gets wasted.
Dodgers are shaking in their boots now. They might not even make it out of the first round.
Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers. Can’t get them out of your head, can you?
@Bivouac-Sal
No, they look like a sinking ship. Lack of depth and poor pitching. Dodgers will be out in the first round.
@Old troll
Dream on. “poor pitching” Hahahaha.Yama, Snell, Kersh, Glasnow.
8 out of 10 from Padres. Hahahahaha. “lack of depth.” They could win with the Oklahoma City roster. Hahahahah.
“poor pitching”
And some guy named Ohtani…
@Bivouac-Sal
And…?
And Nester Cortes.
Ohtani hasn’t been good at all and they are babying him
Justin could have been one of the great one of his generation, if it wasnt for injuries. Like DeGrom. Wait him too. Could have been one of the great ones.
I meant Shane.
@Boycottsidneysweeney
Catsup chips, Putine, and Bieber’s as far as the eye can see!!
“Canada is now the best country in the world”
Not sure if I’d go that far but we have managed to collect all the Biebers. Do we get a prize or something?
All the Biebers are their own prize.
You also have a surplus of sexy Ryans.
I was hoping the Red Sox got him at the deadline. He looked really good before getting hurt last year, and has looked pretty good on his rehab assignment too. He could give the Jays a huge boost.
I wanted him bad, but he preferred staying in CL. Can’t blame him.
Thats a great deal for Bieber. If he throws a few decent innings, he takes 4mm to walk and signs with the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Padres for megabucks. If he stinks they pay him 16mm next yr to see him get shelled. Scherzer is a payroll bandit at age 41. He throws a few starts all year if that and remains hurt at 41. He really took Steve Cohen for a ride.
Rob W.’s first words at birth were most likely “payroll bandit!”
He doesn’t even have to throw a few decent innings. He will be opting out. Last year, the bottom tier starters with little to show from 2023 were getting $15 MM contracts. Add next year’s bottom tier price and add his $4mm buyout and that would be $19MM minimum. I would like to think he would rate higher in the FA class than Boyd and Cobb and an aging Verlander and Scherzer would.
Im a bielieber baby
Bieber fever comes to Canada.
Who woulda thunk it?
Alcantara’s last two starts he’s looked more like his Cy Young season than even in ’23. He was unhittable against the Red Sox and has given up only 2 earned runs combined in those two starts.
Bieber will be interesting for the Jays down the stretch to see what he can contribute
Good luck, Shane!
I hope this guy doesn’t sing like another Bieber