by The Athletic\u2019s Tim Britton<\/a>, Bieber was estimated to receive $63 million over three years. While Bieber\u2019s option is just for the 2026 season, he could still negotiate a long-term deal to remain with the Jays, though that is not imminent and was not a driving force in his decision, sources said.<\/p>\nAfter reestablishing himself following Tommy John surgery in 2024, Bieber could\u2019ve opted out and received a $4 million contract buyout. Instead, he will fill a spot in the middle of Toronto\u2019s rotation, joining Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage and Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos.<\/p>\n
Acquired from the Cleveland Guardians at the deadline in exchange for pitching prospect Khal Stephen, Bieber finished his elbow rehab in the minors and made 12 appearances for the Jays between the regular and postseason. He posted a 3.57 ERA in seven regular-season starts and a 3.86 ERA in five playoff appearances.<\/p>\n
Bieber didn\u2019t quite return to the heights of his Cy Young Award-winning season in 2020, but he flashed the same elite control and strong secondary pitches that made him one of the game\u2019s best right-handed pitchers prior to his surgery. His 3.19 ERA from 2018-24 ranked 22nd among all qualified starters in that span. Just 17 months removed from elbow surgery, Bieber staying in Toronto allows him to continue his progress with a familiar physical therapy group as well.<\/p>\n
His winning starts in Game 3 of the ALCS and Game 4 of the World Series helped push Toronto deep into the baseball calendar. But in making his first relief appearance since 2019 in extra innings of Game 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bieber ultimately allowed a solo homer to catcher Will Smith. The home run made the difference in a 5-4 loss that denied the Jays their first World Series championship since 1993.<\/p>\n
Bieber could\u2019ve joined a strong free agent pitching class that\u2019s expected to include Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Su\u00e1rez and more. Instead, he injects clear upside into Toronto\u2019s 2026 rotation as the club attempts to return to the World Series. With Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer heading to free agency, the Jays could remain players in the pitching market, despite Bieber\u2019s decision to opt in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Right-hander Shane Bieber, a crucial part of the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 push to the World Series, exercised his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82,507],"class_list":{"0":"post-262644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}