TORONTO – Seeking impact for their rotation, the Toronto Blue Jays made an intriguing bet on Shane Bieber and his recovery from elbow surgery, acquiring the right-hander from the Cleveland Guardians for double-A pitching prospect Khal Stephen.
The move, on the heels of Tuesday’s pickup of reliever Seranthony Dominguez, came roughly eight hours ahead of Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline, with the Blue Jays believed to still be seeking additional relief help and possibly a right-handed bat.
Bieber’s pickup comes in a tough market for starting pitching, let alone front-of-the-rotation types, with Zack Littell, Chris Paddack, Michael Soroka, Carlos Carrasco and Erick Fedde, who had been designated for assignment, among those to have moved thus far.
That pending deal may well put Dylan Cease in play before the deadline, while other rentals like Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are also expected to move before the cut-off. But operating within those confines, the Blue Jays opted to aim for the upside a healthy Bieber offers, likely buoyed by his rehab outing Tuesday with double-A Akron, when he allowed one run over four innings with seven strikeouts.
Bieber, who has a player option for $16 million next year, began his second rehab assignment July 15 – an earlier one started May 30 was stopped when he felt some elbow soreness – and the Akron outing was his third since.
Rehab assignments can last up to 30 days, giving the Blue Jays up to two weeks before he needs to be activated and the variance pitchers coming back from reconstructive elbow surgery can experience is a big part of the risk in the trade.
Another question is how he’ll fit into the Blue Jays rotation once he’s ready, with one possibility is running a six-man rotation to protect veterans Max Scherzer, 41, Chris Bassitt, 36, and Kevin Gausman, 34, a Jose Berrios who at 31 has already logged 1,537 big-league innings, and Eric Lauer, who hasn’t hit triple-digits in innings since carrying 158.2 for Milwaukee in 2022.
No matter how it plays out, a Cy Young award winner in 2020 and a two-time all-star like Bieber, when healthy, is a front-of-the-rotation starter who can miss bats and haul innings – exactly what every team wants for the playoffs.
At his best, he uses a fastball that averages 92 m.p.h. along with a cutter, slider, curveball, plus an occasional changeup to keep hitters off balance. His career strikeout rate is 28.1 per cent, with a walk rate of only 5.5 per cent.
That package is why the price to get him was Stephen, a second-round pick last year who has struck out 99 batters in 91.2 innings in 18 games across three levels.