Yankees Analyst Pitches A Shane Bieber Trade

The Cleveland Guardians need offense and are willing to trade longtime ace Shane Bieber to get a quality bat or two.

The New York Yankees have some talented, young, and controllable hitters and have a need for quality pitching.

Theoretically, there could be a match between the two organizations for a trade.

They, in fact, completed a recent transaction: reliever Cody Morris for outfielder Estevan Florial.

But the Yankees need more pitching and the Guardians, more offense.

The folks at Fireside Yankees, a podcast dedicated to news and analysis of all things related to the Yanks, pitched a trade idea.

“Would you make this trade for Shane Bieber if you’re the #Yankees? Yankees receive: SP Shane Bieber Guardians receive: OF Everson Pereira. Who wins this deal and why?” they tweeted.

Would you make this trade for Shane Bieber if you're the #Yankees?🧐

🔷Yankees receive: SP Shane Bieber
🟥Guardians receive: OF Everson Pereira

Who wins this deal and why?👀#RepBX pic.twitter.com/lUJhc5QG8z

— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) December 27, 2023

If we judge talent alone, Bieber is probably worth much more than Pereira, who is a promising outfielder who hit 18 home runs between Double-A, Triple-A, and the majors this year.

He did struggle in MLB, though, with a poor .427 OPS in 27 games.

Even with diminished velocity, Bieber was able to put up a 3.80 ERA in 128 innings this year, which is solid production.

Other things enter the analysis, though.

The Guardians would be acquiring six years of Pereira for just one of Bieber, who will be a free agent after 2024.

Pereira also would be much cheaper than Bieber, making the league minimum for three years (from 2024 to 2026).

With all that in consideration, it’s still likely that the Guardians can do better in the trade market for a guy who came back strong from an arm injury in September and was among the league’s most dominant pitchers from 2019 to 2022.