Guardians starter Shane Bieber goes for an MRI on his forearm/elbow space, skipper Terry Francona informed reporters (together with Mandy Bell of MLB.com and Zack Meisel of the Athletic). Whereas he hasn’t been positioned on the injured record, he gained’t make Monday’s begin as scheduled.
Clearly, the seriousness of the problem isn’t but clear. Francona advised that Bieber has pitched by some forearm discomfort for a couple of weeks. That the membership wasn’t involved sufficient to ship him for imaging earlier than at present and hasn’t instantly positioned him on the IL might recommend they’re not overly involved.
If imaging reveals something that’d ship Bieber to the IL, it might have critical ramifications for each the playoff image and the commerce market. Cleveland enters the unofficial second half main the Twins by half a sport within the AL Central. Doubtlessly subtracting a pitcher who carries a 3.77 ERA by 117 innings would clearly be a success to the roster.
Bieber has additionally been regularly speculated upon as a doable commerce candidate. Cleveland has quite a few younger pitchers — headlined by Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams — who appear like high quality rotation items. A commerce of Bieber or (to a lesser extent) Aaron Civale may permit Cleveland to land quick assist for a below-average offense whereas backfilling the misplaced innings with a youthful pitcher. Bibee and Williams are within the MLB rotation. Allen was not too long ago optioned however appears prone to be recalled with Bieber’s begin being skipped.
The 2020 AL Cy Younger winner is making simply over $10MM this season. He’s eligible for arbitration as soon as extra earlier than first hitting the free agent market over the 2024-25 offseason.
