The Cleveland Guardians have a knack for identifying and/or developing good pitchers.
It’s nothing new, actually: it has been that way for more than a decade.
They helped Shane Bieber become a Cy Young award winner in 2020, and one of the most dominant starters in the American League.
Bieber is now approaching free agency, and with no traction for an extension, there is a very good chance the Guardians trade him.
The Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds are a couple of teams with known, reported interest in the right-hander, and there are others in contention.
Bieber, if a trade materializes, wouldn’t be the first Cy Young winner traded by the Guardians.
Far from it, actually.
“If #Guardians trade Shane Bieber this offseason, he’d be the 4th Cy Young winner for the franchise to be dealt due joining C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Corey Kluber,” Guardians reporter Daryl Ruiter tweeted.
If #Guardians trade Shane Bieber this offseason, he'd be the 4th Cy Young winner for the franchise to be dealt due joining C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Corey Kluber.
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) November 28, 2023
The first one was CC Sabathia, who won the Cy Young in 2007.
He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 in a deal that netted the team, among others, Michael Brantley.
The 2008 AL Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 for four young players, including Carlos Carrasco.
Corey Kluber, winner in 2014 and 2017, was flipped to the Texas Rangers ahead of the 2020 campaign, in exchange for Emmanuel Clase.
The lesson to be learned here is that, while the Guardians rarely extend pitchers, they do get good value in return when they trade them.
Trusting their front office to do it again with Bieber would probably be the right strategy.
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