The Toronto Blue Jays bolstered their starting rotation on Thursday, acquiring right-hander Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians, the team announced.
The Blue Jays sent right-handed pitching prospect Khal Stephen to Cleveland as part of the deal.
Bieber, a two-time All-Star, hasn’t pitched in the majors this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, but has made four rehab starts in the minors, registering a 1.59 ERA with 21 strikeouts and one walk across 11 2/3 innings.
When healthy, Bieber is a front-end starting pitcher, with a career ERA of 3.22 and a K/9 of 10.2. He won the American League Cy Young award with Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season, pitching to an 8-1 record, 122 strikeouts and a league-best 1.63 ERA across 12 starts.
“The guy has been elite,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “He’s been the best pitcher in the game at certain points. That was important to us in raising the potential, raising the bar.”
Blue Jays confident Bieber will be difference maker
In 2019, Shane “Not Justin” Bieber recorded a career-high 214 1/3 innings pitched, 259 strikeouts and only 1.7 BB/9. He finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting that season. He also won an AL Gold Glove award in 2022.
The 30-year-old has a $16 million player option for 2026.
“A really good fit for us, we have some staff members who know Shane well, and we do a lot of work understanding every player in the game,” Atkins said. “Felt like we had a little more insight into him. Really good fit from a teammate, character and drive and competitiveness standpoint.
“Also, because of where he is from a rehab standpoint, fits very well for our already solid five-man rotation. Any good baseball team needs depth and options and we got a very good one.”
Atkins was enticed by the upside Bieber presents for Toronto.
“The risk is almost, in some ways, the exciting aspect of it because of the upside,” Atkins said. “The upside is just so big and I think what makes it riskier is the fact that he’s not pitching in major league games right now.
When he’s ready to return to the majors, Bieber will join a Blue Jays starting rotation that consists of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Eric Lauer.
Bieber, Varland headline busy deadline day for Blue Jays
Stephen was selected by the Blue Jays in the second round of the 2024 draft out of Mississippi State University.
The 22-year-old was one of Toronto’s best minor-league pitchers this season, registering a 2.06 ERA and 91 strikeouts across 91 2/3 innings split between Single-A Dunedin, High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire. Stephen was ranked as Toronto’s fifth-best prospect by MLB.
Toronto also picked up right-handed pitcher Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France from the Minnesota Twins, as well as catching prospect Brandon Valenzuela from the San Diego Padres.
Toronto sent outfielder Alan Roden and left-handed pitcher Kendry Rojas to the Twins, and dealt infielder Will Wagner to the Padres on Thursday.
The Jays continued to load up on pitchers after adding reliever Seranthony Dominguez from the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Valenzuela hit 14 doubles, a triple, a dozen home runs and 46 RBIs while carrying an on-base plus slugging percentage of .700 through 87 games for Double-A San Antonio this season.
The catcher from Hermosillo, Mexico, has thrown out 25 base runners. His 34.7 per cent caught-stealing percentage ranks second among all Double-A catchers.
Wagner, from Houston, Texas, appeared in 40 games for the Blue Jays this season with a batting average of .237, seven extra-base hits and seven RBIs.
Toronto acquired Wagner, 27, from the Astros at last season’s trade deadline along with outfielder Joey Loperfido and pitcher Jake Bloss in exchange for pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.
The Blue Jays enter Friday’s home game against the Kansas City Royals with a four-game lead over the New York Yankees for first in the AL East.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report