Guardians Resign Former Cy Young and Triple Crown Award Winner
Former American League Cy Young and Triple Crown winner Shane Bieber signed with the Cleveland Guardians today. The deal is worth $14 million over one season. This is a great move for both Bieber and the Guardians as it addresses their need for starting pitching. Bieber only pitched two games for the Guardians last year due to injury. Bieber hopes to be healthy in order to help his team rack up wins in the 2025 season.
Despite being 29 years old, Bieber has accomplished a little bit of everything so far in his major league career. Bieber has a Cy Young award, a pitching Triple Crown, placing fourth in MVP voting, two All-Star selections, and a Gold Glove to his name already. When Bieber is on, he is known to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. With that being said, there will always be questions surrounding health when it comes to the right hander. Bieber has only made 30-plus starts in two of his seven big league seasons. Also, Bieber won the pitching Triple Crown but only made 12 starts that year due to the shortened 2020 season. It will be pivotal for the Guardians to have a healthy version of Bieber so that they will be able to see a significant return on their investment.
Bieber is expected to miss part of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery on his elbow that ended his 2024 season. Before that, Bieber only pitched 12 innings but struck out 20 while surrendering one walk and allowing no runs. With a career record of 62 wins and 32 losses with a 3.22 earned run average, taking a chance with Bieber in 2025 is certainly warranted. Although it can be difficult to come back from such injuries, at this point in his career, Bieber is certainly capable of pitching at a high level once again. He will look to stay healthy, get back to his previous pitching dominance, and help the Guardians make a deep run this season.
