The Cleveland Guardians’ decision to trade Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays was met with mixed reviews.
On the one hand, it seemed like they were giving up on the season, even though Bieber hadn’t pitched at all this year.
On the other hand, they made the most of a potentially expiring deal by landing a high-end prospect.
That’s why Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report believes it was actually a master move by the front office.
In his latest column, he chose that move as the third-best trade deadline transaction:
“Guardians Turn Shane Bieber into Quality Pitching Prospect,” Reuter wrote. “Shane Bieber has thrown exactly zero pitches at the MLB level this season. In fact, he has not pitched in a big league game since April 2, 2024, though he is currently on the comeback trail from Tommy John surgery with four starts and 11.1 innings under his belt. For all of that uncertainty, the Guardians were able to pry loose right-hander Khal Stephen in the deal that sent Bieber to Toronto, and he has been one of the biggest breakout pitching prospects in baseball this year.”
Of course, it’s always hard to watch the best players go, and Bieber was the team’s ace for years.
He could’ve given this team a major boost in the final stretch of the season, even if he was on a pitch count at first to ramp things up for the playoffs.
Then again, it’s not like he was the sole missing piece this team needed to be a can’t-miss World Series contender.
With that in mind, the front office needed to think about the future and look at the big picture.
Bieber had a $16 million player option for next season, and he was most likely going to decline it to become a free agent again.
The only way he didn’t do so would be if he didn’t play well or was still hurt, thus still coming with some risk.
Also, the Guardians could’ve kept him and settled for a compensatory pick.
But with a promising prospect like Khal Stephen on the table, they made the right decision.
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