Shane Bieber's dud of a Blue Jays return only emboldened Guardians' argument

Earlier this week, the Cleveland Guardians’ pitching pipeline took a huge hit when the Guardians announced that pitching prospect Khal Stephen is set to undergo arm surgery that could keep him out until 2028. 

While there’s never a good time for that kind of injury, it looked even worse considering Shane Bieber (the player the Guardians gave up in exchange for Stephen) was set to make his return for the Blue Jays after missing the start of the season due to forearm and elbow fatigue. 

But that return left a lot to be desired, as Bieber allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings in the Blue Jays win loss to the Astros on Tuesday. 

Although one start doesn’t define a season, Bieber’s rough return to the mound shows why the Guardians felt comfortable pulling the trigger on trading him. 

Shane Bieber struggled in his season debut for the Blue Jays 

The Guardians’ decision to trade Bieber made sense considering the amount of uncertainty around him. 

Not only was he coming off Tommy John surgery, but he also had a $14 million player option for 2026, which meant the Guardians’ options would either be to lose him for nothing in free agency, or be on the hook for his salary in 2026. 

At the time, it seemed like he was a lock to hit free agency given his track record, and his performance for the Blue Jays down the stretch (3.57 ERA in 40 1/3 innings) seemed to provide even more reinforcement to that. 

But then he shocked MLB by picking up that option in November, which made more sense a couple months later when the Blue Jays announced that Bieber was suffering from the aforementioned shoulder fatigue that ended up keeping him out for the first three months of the season. 

Even though the Blue Jays are happy to welcome Bieber back to their beleaguered rotation (especially since Patrick Corbin has fallen back down to earth and Max Scherzer is back on the IL), his debut left a lot to be desired. 

He got just six whiffs and struggled to locate his fastball, which resulted in him giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning. 

“I’m not happy with it, put the team behind the eight ball there from the get,” Bieber said after the game. “That one’s definitely on me.” 

Now, none of Bieber’s struggles will ever take away from the sting that comes from Stephen’s injury. Stephen was hurt at the time the Guardians acquired him, but he returned at the end of last season and had tallied 55 innings at Double-A Akron prior to getting hurt this season. 

In total, Stephan has posted a 3.93 ERA in 66 1/3 innings since joining the Guardians. 

Coming into the year it seemed like Stephen was going to make his big league debut at some point this year. Now his injury means the Guardians could target a controllable arm at the trade deadline a little more than 12 months after trading Bieber.

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