The Cleveland Guardians are known for their impeccable development skills, promoting from within, and spotting talent like few other teams in baseball.
Negotiating with players on the open market, however, has brought the organization more disappointment than joy throughout decent history.
Shane Bieber was, for a few weeks after the World Series, free to sign with any squad of his liking.
The team ace is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in April, so his market didn’t go as he expected, say, one or two years ago.
However, it might have been that injury that gave the Guardians a chance for their offer to be in the ballpark of what Bieber and his agency wanted.
The player, however, did admit that he was close to leaving.
“Shane Bieber was very close to leaving Cleveland. “It was looking bleak… I’ll just leave it at that”, Chris Rose posted on X.
Shane Bieber was very close to leaving Cleveland.
“It was looking bleak… I’ll just leave it at that” pic.twitter.com/NcSrPO1oRD
— Chris Rose Sports (@ChrisRoseSports) January 10, 2025
You can watch the video and look at Bieber’s expressions.
It’s pretty clear that he wanted to return to Cleveland and you can see it in his facial expressions when he discusses how close he was to leaving.
Apparently, he was about to give up when one morning his agency and the organization were able to settle and find common ground.
Now, the Guardians will have him for 2025, and potentially 2026 depending on if the star hurler exercises a player option.
He will miss the first couple of months as he completes his rehab, but once he regains full health, Bieber will want to pick up where he left off: he pitched 12 scoreless frames to open 2024 before going down with the injury.
NEXT: Guardians Top List Of Best Teams At Developing Pitching Talent
