Guardians nearly lost Shane Bieber to AL East contender

Cleveland Guardians fans everywhere were the recipients of some good news this past Friday, as it was announced that they agreed to terms on a new contract with starting pitcher Shane Bieber. A one-year $14 million deal with a $16 million player option for 2026 was enough to keep Bieber in Cleveland and keep him from signing elsewhere, but it almost didn't happen.

According to a report from FanSided's Robert Murray, the Boston Red Sox were also in on Bieber, "Before Shane Bieber re-signed with the Cleveland Guardians, the Boston Red Sox were “aggressive” and made a “serious push” to sign the right-hander, according to sources familiar with the situation.". This would have been a huge blow to the Guardians, not just in their starting rotation but overall clubhouse morale.

Cleveland's front office has not been known to do the right thing in situations like this one, with the right thing being doing everything they can to keep a player from leaving. Luckily for the Guardians, Bieber wanted to stay in Cleveland, even turning down more money from other clubs, per Murray. Previously, players have stated their desire to remain in Cleveland, but very rarely does that actaully happen. The approach of the Guardians' front office has always been a cautious one, and that usually means that they are more willing to sign multiple players at a lesser cost rather than meet the higher contractural demands of a better player. Sometimes, this has worked, while others not so much, but that just comes with the territory of being a small market team.

Bieber is expected to miss a good chunk of next season and would be a midseason reinforcement to a rotation that is surely going to need it. As currently constructed, Tanner Bibee is the best arm of the group, while the contributions of Ben Lively, Gavin Lively, Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, and possibly Joey Cantillo will most likely be mixed. Cleveland needs at least one other arm to bring into this group to help round them out and give them a much larger margin for error in the event the non-Bibee arms do not work out, but for now, making sure Bieber is a Guardians next year is a great start.