"Mets gotta be all over that" - MLB fans of all stripes want Shane Bieber on their side

Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians has been one of his team's most reliable pitchers over the course of the last half-decade. Now, it looks as though his team might be looking at offloading one of their most valuable assets.

Bieber was drafted by Cleveland in the 4th round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of UC Santa Barbara. The 6-foot-3 right hander made his debut as a starter for the team in 2018, and won the AL Cy Young Award on account of posting a 1.63 ERA and a record of 8-1. So far in 2023, Shane Biever has been a workhorse, logging a league-best 76 innings over 12 starts.

"Multiple GMs believe Guardians' Shane Bieber will be traded by the deadline, per @Jeff Passan" - B/R Walk Off

On June 1, ESPN insider Jeff Passan shared a tip-off that the Cleveland Guardians may be interested in dealing Shane Bieber. Despite still contending in the NL Central, the Guardians have had some of the worst hitting in the MLB this season. In theory, dealing Shane Bieber would allow the team to access hitting talent.

It did not take long for several fans on Twitter to take interest in the news of Shane Bieber's possible trades. Apparently some think that Bieber, who is currently nursing his highest ERA since 2018, has gone down in value as a pitcher.

While that may be provisionally true, fans from teams across the league attempted to lay claim to the former Cy Young Award winner and do what they could to attract attention for their teams.

Under his one-year $10.01 million contract, Bieber will be a free agent anyway come the end of the season. For the Cleveland Guardians, it would make sense to try and gain some value by virtue of a trade as opposed to just letting him walk away.

Although the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets were among the teams with the most vocial proponents of nailing down Bieber, his ultimate destination remains to be determined. If the Guardians get hot, perhaps the flamethrower could have more utility to them than they evidently currently believe.

Shane Bieber has a lot of quality baseball left in him

Having just turned 28, Bieber is very much in the prime of his career. An already distinguished pitcher with some solid credentials, the Guardians know that they could ask for a high price. For GM Mike Chernoff, the deal will need to come down to a hard look at cost versus benefit to ensure that no regrettable or brash decisions are made.