The Cleveland Guardians traded Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays at the deadline, a move that made sense for both teams.
The Guardians understood that they weren’t in a position to even come close to competing for a World Series, despite playing well for parts of the second half.
Ultimately, Bieber will be loved in Cleveland for a very long time because of what he did on the mound there, but he now has a new opportunity in Toronto.
How much will Shane Bieber earn in his next contract?
Searching ahead, however, the right-hander is set to hit the free agency market. Perhaps more difficult to value than any player around the league, there are questions about how much Bieber will get.
There are also questions about whether he’ll return to the Blue Jays.
According to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic, it’s much more likely that the Blue Jays keep Bo Bichette around than Bieber as of now.
“The Jays openly expressed interest in bringing back both players next year, but Bichette seems more likely at this point. More than anything in free agency, money wins. But looking at potential tiebreakers, the Jays are well positioned to win those with Bichette…
“The Jays just don’t have the same history with Bieber. He also has significant West Coast connections that could make other destinations appealing. Bieber was born and went to school in California, lives in Arizona during the offseason and spent much of his rehab time in the Grand Canyon State this year at the Cleveland Guardians’ spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz,” he wrote.
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The contract will be an important factor for Bieber.
Some believe that he’s in line to get paid if he has a decent September and October, which has been the case so far after returning from injury, but it’s also fair to mention that he’s hardly pitched in the past two years.
Despite that, Spotrac has him coming in at a six-year, $145.5 million deal.
If that happens, the Guardians made a great decision by getting rid of him.
