preseason Blue Jays prospect list<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThe most impressive thing about Khal is just that he\u2019s continued to get better as he goes,\u201d Blue Jays director of player development Joe Sclafani said last month.<\/p>\n
Trade grades<\/p>\n
Blue Jays: B+
Guardians: A<\/p>\n
Brittany Ghiroli: It\u2019s no secret that the Blue Jays need starting pitching help, a fact that was on full display when they dropped three of four games to the Baltimore Orioles earlier this week. However, Toronto\u2019s minor league system isn\u2019t particularly strong, making it understandable that the current clubhouse \u2014 while excited for the front office to make moves \u2014 was also a little leery of what that could potentially cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably going to lose some guys in here,\u201d starter Kevin Gausman said.<\/p>\n
And while they still could deal from their big-league roster, particularly from a glut of outfielders, Toronto\u2019s ability to maneuver and take a flier on Bieber coming back from Tommy John surgery is a savvy play.<\/p>\n
Bieber, who recently started at Double A on his way back, has dealt with elbow issues since 2023, so the Jays must really like what they\u2019ve seen while scouting the former Cy Young winner\u2019s rehab starts. Bieber is also still owed roughly $3.5 million on the season and has a $16 million player option (with a $4 million buyout) that lessened the Guardians\u2019 ability to command a bigger return.<\/p>\n
There is risk here, but also huge upside for the Jays, who are in win-now mode atop the AL East. This can\u2019t be the Jays\u2019 only starting move, but it\u2019s a solid depth play without breaking up the current rotation, which has been bolstered by Scherzer\u2019s return and the emergence of Lauer. A year ago, general manager Ross Atkins made a flurry of moves in selling off expiring contracts to acquire pitching depth. Now, we\u2019ll see if he\u2019s as aggressive on the other side of the trade market.<\/p>\n
For Cleveland, shedding Bieber\u2019s salary \u2014 particularly for next year \u2014 and getting a well-thought-of pitching prospect into the Guardians\u2019 well-regarded pitching factory is a win-win. Stephen is a former third-round pick with a fastball that touches 96mph and impressive control. He has a 5.1 percent walk rate across three levels.<\/p>\n
Blue Jays: B+
Guardians: A<\/p>\n
Stephen J. Nesbitt: This wasn\u2019t the arm I expected the Blue Jays to target at the trade deadline, but it\u2019s an intriguing one. Jays starters had the sixth-worst ERA in the majors in the first half of the season (4.60 ERA), and while they\u2019ve been healthier and better recently, it\u2019s still a unit that needed reinforcing. Lauer is having a breakout season, and the other four starters \u2014 Scherzer, Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos \u2014 are proven veterans throwing well lately. Add Bieber to the mix and that six-man rotation has combined for 18 top-10 Cy Young finishes; Scherzer won the award three times, Bieber once.<\/p>\n
Bieber\u2019s return from Tommy John surgery was slowed by a setback early this summer, but he seems to be progressing nicely now. He threw 57 pitches in his last rehab start and should be back on a major-league mound in mid-August. Considering Bieber\u2019s resurgence prior to the 2023 elbow surgery \u2014 20 strikeouts over 12 scoreless innings \u2014 he could be a real asset for the Jays come October. If all the arms are healthy, they\u2019ll be able to get creative with how they deploy the starters they can\u2019t squeeze into a playoff rotation.<\/p>\n
Because Bieber is likely to decline his $16 million player option this fall, he\u2019s effectively a rental. With that in mind, the Guardians did very well in this trade to land Stephen for a guy who\u2019s made only four starts since the 2022 All-Star break. They turned a roughly $7 million investment in Bieber this season into a 22-year-old starter who is soaring up prospect lists. Stephen, a third-round pick in 2024, was ranked No. 5 in the Blue Jays system by Baseball America, and FanGraphs recently named him the No. 80 prospect in the sport. He has a 2.36 ERA this season across three minor-league levels. He is what they call a quick riser.<\/p>\n
(Photo of Shane Bieber in April 2024: Lindsey Wasson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Bieber has made only four big-league starts in the last 24 months, but the Toronto Blue Jays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2320,363,99,364],"class_list":["post-50480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}