BREAKING: Guardians trade Shane Bieber to Blue Jays for one of baseball’s BEST pitching prospects

BREAKING: Guardians trade Shane Bieber to Blue Jays for one of baseball’s BEST pitching prospects

All right, give us a read, Anthony. — Hi
— guys. Back from putting the microphone on, summer sports are in full swing, and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDu is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action, so why not make it a little bit more thrilling? But FanDuel, you can get on all the games while your friends are out getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups, and the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. If you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet $5 and get 1150 bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit FanDuel.com/ UCSS to get started. How long we’ve been doing this show? You can’t clip your own mic on. Are you kidding me? That’s, — that’s
— not my job. I do my job. My job is not to clip microphones. Bill Belichick, do your job, yeah, do your job, except I’m not dating a 19 year old. Who’s 24, yeah, he’s her sugar daddy. Good for her. Good for him. — We got
— some breaking news this morning. We do. The Guardians have made two trades, including one significant one for those who just maybe, you know, just hearing about this, Shane Bieber has been traded to the Blue Jays. Even, even the Guardian’s trades are incestuous these days. They love trading with the Blue Jays because it’s a comfort level. They like being comfortable with the Guardians, and so they trade with a familiar guy and Mark Shapiro. God, — you’re
— ridiculous. Is that not true? What did I say that was factually untrue. — It’s
— comfortable. They have to be comfortable. Is that not true? There are certain teams that other teams, the Padres and the Blue Jays are two of them. I say that was wrong. It’s the way you said it and you know and you know it. That’s true. But what I said was factually correct, but I do know what I was doing there. Uh, the truth is, on paper, it’s actually a perfectly fine deal. They got a, a pitcher who’s a top 100 prospect. He’s the 5th prospect in the Blue Jay system. He was a high draft pick a couple of years ago. — Young guy has pitched
— well. Stats are all, I mean, I know it’s, yeah, they were talking about him on MLB radio as a reliever, even though he’s been a starter in the minors. — I don’t know if the plan is I
— mean maybe they’ll make him. Really, but he has been a starter in the minors. He’s got a 4-pitch mix. He’s 64, like, — although
— he’s dealing with an injury right now. Yeah, according to the press release, he got called up to AA, made one start in AA, then got put on the IL with right shoulder impingement, which I’m not exactly sure what that means, but obviously not good. His numbers, by the way, incredible. It was the 2nd round. Pick last year, but in ’91 and 2/3 innings this season he’s got 99 strikeouts, a sub one whip and an ERA of 2.03 2.06 against lower level minor league competition, but he’s a guy with a, a relatively high ceiling and the one knock on him, and I’m curious, Jason Bull, your guys’ baseball expertise coming out was that his fastball just doesn’t have a ton of velocity, throws tops out at 9392-ish, but if there’s any organization I feel like that can get your velocity up with a 64 220 pound frame, it’s. The Cleveland Guardians, yeah, yeah, they basically traded Shane Bieber for Shane Bieber, and I think, I think, well, no, if you look back at where Shane was as a prospect is what I’m saying. Shane had a 4 pitch mix. He was a fastball slider guy with not a lot of velo and great command. It’s very similar to who they just traded for. Uh, obviously, you know, hopefully he turns into Shane Beaver, that’d be wonderful, but I just mean Shane never had a big profile coming out of when they drafted him out of college and he was a command guy. They got to more Vilo, I think with a little bit of use of some substance because once the sticky stuff went away, so did Shane’s Vilo. He kind of went back down, but he still managed to pitch effectively with less Vilo, and I’m sure that there’s another. 2 to 3 miles an hour then they can get out of this guy because that’s what they do. They send them to the lab and they use their sorcery and they add velocity to these guys, but he’s got great command. Uh, he’s an Indiana kid started at Purdue, transferred to Mississippi State, as you said, late 2nd round pick, kind of signed for below slot value. Uh, and you know he needs to see better competition. He’s 22 years old and he’s only made one start in AA, gave up two home runs, and went on the IL. So we’ll see. — Who knows
— if he’s gonna pitch at all the rest of the season? Yeah, he didn’t pitch last year. They shut him down after they drafted him. Yeah, and, and you know, the, the minor league season ends earlier than the major league season. So you only have, I mean, you have what, 56 weeks left in the major in the minor league season, so. Yeah, I mean, end of August it’ll end, so he might be done. But yeah, I mean, listen, you had to trade Bieber. He was opting out of his contract. He was gonna be a free agent. He didn’t have a, I mean, you got a guy as we’ve learned very well with the Guardians and other teams. You know, it’s all a guessing game. It’s an educated guessing game. You never know if a guy’s gonna pan out or not, no matter how good a prospect he is. The general consensus of the baseball, uh, evaluators is that this guy is a good prospect. And so I didn’t even think I frankly didn’t think they’d get this high rated a prospect for Bieber considering he hasn’t pitched since, since, uh, April of last year. Uh, so it, it’s a, it’s, it’s actually, again, on paper, it’s a, it’s a good deal. Whether he, whether they can pick up his velocity or not, it doesn’t matter ultimately, if you’re a good enough pitcher, you could pitch at any velocity. Um, so there’s, you know, we’re so obsessed with guys throwing 98, 99, 100 now that that’s, you know, very popular, but there’s plenty of good pitchers — that don’t throw that
— hard, uh, kind of, uh, uh, not related to the Guardians, but kind of the A’s just say, right? Yeah, for Leo DeVries who’s the Padres, — the Padress top five
— prospects. Potentially coming to Cleveland with Stephen. — That’s
— that’s that would have been another typical uh guardian’s trade for a hitter that’s 5 years from the majors, — but
— oh my God, you’re ridiculous. — How
— am — I ri’re
— just in a mood. You just got to burn your saddle about these guys. Jason, — now he’s not 5 years
— away. I’m exaggerating. Yes, — the
— point is he’s been exaggerating all morning. We here for 7 minutes. I’m not exaggerating about how shitty a job they’ve done with with offense. Yes, they have. Yes, OK, so if, if I’m gonna be a little snarky about it because I’m sick of them failing and letting the fans down, then so be it. I think over and I don’t have the numbers to back this up. I think over the last 10 to 15 years. The top 5 to 10 prospects in baseball probably have a better hit rate than ever before. Very, very few guys. If you are considered a can’t miss top 510 guy, very few of them. It happens, — happens
— in the end they didn’t get they — didn’t
— get they didn’t get him. He goes, well, the A’s, — but
— you get them for a closer to trade a closer for the top 5 prospect in baseball is wild. Clas have got that? Yes, Clay is better than Mason Miller. But Mason Miller’s got more years of control, but yes, they, they would have gotten a hole. I mean, the Twins got a great return again, it’s all on paper when you’re training for minor leaguers, you know, we could say it’s a great return, but until they perform in the majors, you don’t know. But the Twins got two really good prospects, including the Philly second best pitching prospect in a trade for Duran, who’s not a. Good as as uh Class A, but they could have gotten a hole for Class A. Obviously the A’s were not, I don’t think they were planning on trading Mason Miller, but whatever they got, they probably got even more than DeVries and DeVries alone is obviously a great pickup, but they probably got a 34 players in that. I, I was, they were saying on MLB radio this morning. Uh, that there’s a chance they wanna move Mason Miller into the rotation, which is kind of crazy. — I mean
— you do — that
— for next year. I don’t know how you do that now. I think that’d be you. It’s weird. I mean, the Padres got a good closer, so I don’t know. But anyway, before we get off into others and we’re going next, I just wanted to mention one thing on the Bieber deal for a guy who I think we could all agree. was not gonna pick up his option. — Like he was gonna go to free agency
— as long as he throws well these last two months. So right, but if he didn’t pick up his options because he was pitching like crap or he was hurt and then you would want it anyway. So for a guy who you may have had for 2 more months, — 3 whatever the rest of the
— season, you would have had him for like 5 starts. That’s that’s right, whatever whatever the actual time, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn’t think the guardians would be able to get a prospect of the caliber of Cal Steven. Is it Stefan Steven? Do we know how to pronounce it? Steven Cal still calling Cal Steven for today. A prospect of that caliber back for a rental and Toronto and you and I were talking before the show started, Jason. They’re half a game back for the best record in baseball, which I was not shocked at because I, I knew, but when you look, they’re literally half a game behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in baseball. They’re going for it. They’re going all in. They’re pushing their chips into the table, and they give up one of their top 5 pitching prospects. Their number 2 right-handed pitching prospects, 4567 starts of Shane Bieber and hopefully a playoff push. So when you look at the overall haul, I understand why some people are mad. The Guardians are selling. They love Shane Bieber, yada yada yada, this, uh. Maybe the first sign that they’re officially waving the white flag on this season. Sometimes you have to part way with part ways with players that are not part of your future, and in the long term future, Bieber’s made 4 starts in 2 years, guys, and they just got a top 5 prospect from an organization with a deep farm system. It’s not like, oh, the Blue Jays farm system’s a disaster. The top 5 prospect in that system would really be the 13th best prospect elsewhere, uh, you know, we have to see how he pans out, obviously if he pans out and becomes a good pitcher, — it’s gonna be a steals
— like a good deal. Yeah, it’s a smart move for the Blue Jays. I mean, they’re trying to win. They’re going for it. So I get it. I mean, Shane Bieber, we talked about the beginning of this year that Shane Bieber could be a difference maker for the guardians of the playoffs. Same thing for the Blue Jays. Yeah, I mean they, they’re so I get why they did it. That makes sense. — They’re
— gonna run out of October rotation now of Gozman, who’s been pitching well the last few weeks. Shane Bieber, Briss is up and down, and Bassett, like that’s that’s pretty good. Yeah, that’s very good veterans and. You know, and Bieber’s always been good when he’s been healthy, you know, somebody just thought of Toronto has a lot of injuries with their minor league pitchers. I don’t know. I mean, a lot, there’s a lot of injuries across baseball, obviously with pitchers, but then in particular that we just with this rotator cuff thing now with him, Alec Manoa just had, he’s been out for her for like 2 years, just had Tommy John Tiedeman, their top pitching prospect, Tommy John. Um, — they
— just had their best prospect is, uh, — you’re
— savage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. — I don’t know
— if he’s healthy. I think he’s healthy. Yeah, he is, yes. Uh, Uh, again, You never know until the guys are in the big leagues, but on paper it’s a very smart trade for both teams. Um, uh, the Guardian, the Guardians did well here. They did well. It was a good trade, um, and now we’ll see what else they do before we — get to the
— what else they’re not staying in Toronto. I don’t think like Shane, for years the talk with Shane wants to go back to Southern California between the Angels, the Dodgers, — maybe the
— Padres. I mean at this point because, you know, I don’t know how he’s not getting a huge contract even if he pitches well. If the Blue Jays made him a good offer, I think there’s a chance, but I think he wants to go back. I don’t think it matters. If I’m Toronto, I’m trying to win now, you know, I mean, I got Bechette’s a free agent at the end of the year. We’re playing well. The East is wide open. The Yankees are not that good. The American League is wide open. The Mariners are really going. Yeah, — I like
— what the Mariners, and they should. I think the Mariners and the Mets have been the biggest winners so far. One last question on the Bieber thing. Yeah, how many teams do you think were really interested in Bieber and when I’m sure a lot. So this was, this was the Guardians taking what they believed was the best player, the best offer they could get. I know. I, I know the Cubs were interested for sure, um. — I was hoping
— they’d get them, but there’s a lot of interest in them. I kind of thought they’d send him to the NL, but it doesn’t really matter because it’s a rental, so you just take the best offer in front of you, uh, but yeah, there, there was a lot of because of his pedigree, because of his track record, and you know, you know what’s in there. — So
— that means Cleveland really likes this Cal Steven Cal Stephen, yeah, I mean if they chose him over a bunch of other potential options, he’s, he fits them to a T in the, in the mold of high command, low vlo. We can work with that and get more out of them.

Shane Bieber won’t throw a pitch for the Guardians this season after all.

After continuing his rehab from Tommy John surgery all season, Bieber has been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of the deadline. The club has confirmed the deal.

In return, the Guardians are getting right-handed pitcher Khal Stephen, a 2024 second-round draft pick.

Bieber, who won the 2020 Cy Young award, had started only two games at the major-league level since the end of 2023. | https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/2025/07/31/shane-bieber-trade-cleveland-guardians/85432269007/

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