Shane Bieber restarts his career with the only team he’s ever known.
The Cleveland Guardians ace, who is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract with the team on Friday, with a player option for $16 million through 2026. ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He is reportedly expected to return to the mound in mid-2025.
Agreement allegedly will pay Bieber $10 million for 2025 with a $4 million buyout of his player option. According to Jon Heyman of the New York PostBieber had offers for more money elsewhere, but decided to stay in Cleveland.
Bieber became an All-Star in 2019 and a Cy Young winner in 2020, but has struggled to stay healthy since then. He missed half of the 2021 season with a right shoulder muscle strain, spent two months on IL in 2021 due to elbow inflammation, and went under the knife to repair his UCL in April of this year.
When healthy, Bieber is among the best pitchers in baseball with a 3.02 ERA since 2019, which is 15th among MLB starters. At age 29, however, there are also signs his arsenal is degrading, such as his fastball dropping from 94.1 mph in 2020 to 91.3 mph in 2023 (his 69 homers in 2024 averaged 92 mph) .
Bieber also went from 41.1% of batters in 2020 to 20.1% in 2023, with a strikeout rate of 35.7% and 29.7% in those years. But to be clear, he’s also been an above-average pitcher in recent years with a 3.80 ERA and 3.87 FIP in 2023.
Pitchers often come back from Tommy John surgery looking like their old selves, but in Bieber’s case, he may be aiming for the self of two or three years ago. Fortunately, he will be doing it in the same uniform.