Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber spent the entire 2023-24 off-season revamping his stuff after a down 2023.
In the first two starts of the 2024 campaign, he looked fantastic, with 12 shutout innings and 20 strikeouts.
He resembled the old, dominant Bieber who won a Cy Young award and was a top five starter in the American League.
But he blew out his elbow after his second start and underwent Tommy John surgery on April 12.
Bieber is a free agent, so no one knows if he has thrown his last pitch with the Guardians.
The pitcher posted a cool video of him working out at the TMI Sports Medicine complex, carefully going through every step of his rehab.
“Feels so good to get some more quality work in with Dr. Meister & @TMISportsMed to start the offseason,” Bieber posted on his X account.
Feels so good to get some more quality work in with Dr. Meister & @TMISportsMed to start the offseason 🦾 pic.twitter.com/NBEwPmkEmz
— Shane Bieber (@ShaneBieber19) October 29, 2024
He is working with none other than Dr. Keith Meister, the man in charge of his surgery back in April.
Tommy John surgery typically takes players between 14 and 16 months to return to action.
Some of them do it sooner, and some of them take more time.
Expecting Bieber to be ready for the start of the 2025 would not be realistic, though.
The right-hander and the Guardians might be able to work out a deal that gives the former a chance to regain some of his value and the latter the prospect of a very solid starter for the second half of the 2025 campaign and probably an extra year after that.
A two-year deal a la Brandon Woodruff makes sense, but the Guardians will have plenty of competition for Bieber services.
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