Guardians announce intention as trade deadline seller by sending fan favorite to Blue Jays

It's finally happened.

After nearly three years of trade rumors, Shane Bieber is no longer a Cleveland Guardian. On Thursday, after a day of trade rumors involving the rehabbing ace, the team traded Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Guardians will be getting minor league pitcher Khal Stephen from the Blue Jays as their return in the deal.

Guardians announce their intentions as sellers by trading Shane Bieber to Blue Jays

The trade brings about magical seven-year run in Cleveland for Bieber, who the team selected in the fourth of the 2016 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2018 as the young gun in a rotation filled with veterans like Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, and introduced himself to the baseball world by winning All-Star Game MVP in 2019.

A year later, he turned every mound into his personal stomping ground during the truncated 2020 season, as he finished the year with a sparkling 1.63 ERA in 77 1/3 innings.

Cleveland's trade of Bieber comes at an odd time in the 30-year-old's career. He started the 2024 season with 12 dominant innings across two starts before his arm started barking, which resulted in him undergoing Tommy John surgery.

He seems to be on the cusp of a major league return. While he set off some alarm bells earlier this year when he experienced some soreness on his initial rehab assignment, he made his return to a mound earlier this month and recorded seven strikeouts in four innings in his most recent rehab start on Tuesday.

He seems to be projecting toward a Mid-August return, and fills an an obvious need on the Blue Jays roster.

While the Blue Jays already have five starters on their roster, their rotation is still a bit in flux considering they have the oft-injured Max Scherzer occupying one of their rotation spots along with the unproven Eric Lauer.

It remains to be seen if Bieber will be a rental or not. He's making $14 million this year and has a $16 player option for next year along with a $4 million buyout.

Bieber would have been a lock to get traded at last year's deadline had he not gotten hurt, and he'll now get a chance to prove himself with an organization that has plenty of connections to the Guardians. The Blue Jays enter play on Thursday with a four-game lead on the Yankees in the American League East.

In return, the Guardians nab a mouth-watering prospect in Stephen, who ranked as the Blue Jays' No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline. He opened the season at Single-A and was recently promoted to Double-A. In total, he has recorded a 2.06 ERA in 91 2/3 innings across three different minor league levels.

That said, he was placed on the minor league injured list on July 20 with right shoulder impingement.

The Guardians also completed another move Thursday morning by trading reliever Paul Sewald to the Tigers in exchange for Player to Be Named Later or cash.

Sewald, who is currently on the injured list with a moderate teres major strain, posted a 4.70 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. It remains unclear how close he is to a major league return.