2025 Trade Deadline

[Laika]

5 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

he's almost certainly going to opt out so this is essentially a rental, but probably the best upside play they could have gotten at this point.

apparently he's been 92-94 mph in his rehab starts & if that's the case then there's the front of the line guy we've been looking for. 

Since 2019, Shane Bieber fastballs:

• 92+ mph: .327 xwOBA / 17% whiff rate / 30% K rate
• sub 92 mph: .396 xWOBA / 12% whiff rate / 12% K rate

the curveball & slider have always been unholy offerings that spit in the face of physics itself, but if his fastball is playing up, he's as legit a #1 as you're gonna get.

 

Kind of had to take some form of risk to try to get an SP1 or SP2 for the playoffs given the options available. 

• Risk on Bieber's health
• Risk on Alcantara's talent
• Risk on Edward Cabrera or Dylan Cease's massive acquisition cost 

[Masterbather]

I'd much rather the risk/reward on something like this than settling for a decent mid rotation arm, we don't need another one of those.

If healthy this is an ace. A true ace, an aces ace. 

 

[Grant77]

Don't just go half way, Atkins.

Tiedemann and Green for Bednar and Taylor Rogers

RJ Schreck for Harrison Bader

 

[saskjayfan]

4 minutes ago, Laika said:

Kind of had to take some form of risk to try to get an SP1 or SP2 for the playoffs given the options available. 

• Risk on Bieber's health
• Risk on Alcantara's talent
• Risk on Edward Cabrera or Dylan Cease's massive acquisition cost 

Bieber was absolutely filthy at the beginning of last year before he went down.  He supposedly looked great in his rehab.  I absolutely love this acquisition.

[Masterbather]

2 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Don't just go half way, Atkins.

Tiedemann and Green for Bednar and Taylor Rogers

RJ Schreck for Harrison Bader

 

Yeah I feel like we need a finishing touch. No such thing as being a little bit pregnant as Bob McCown would always say.

[Stangstag]

14 minutes ago, Laika said:

Kind of had to take some form of risk to try to get an SP1 or SP2 for the playoffs given the options available. 

• Risk on Bieber's health
• Risk on Alcantara's talent
• Risk on Edward Cabrera or Dylan Cease's massive acquisition cost 

Why not grab all of them + DeGrom. Could have the best rotation in the playoffs or the worst.

All gas no brakes babyyyy

[Stangstag]

Degrom - Bieber - Alcantara - Scherzer

Dynamite playoff rotation

[jmomcc]

If you agreed with fangraphs on their valuation that is a pretty big overpay on Bieber. Unless his stuff looks amazing in the rehab starts. He was fantastic three years ago. 

[gruber9292]

26 minutes ago, saskjayfan said:

Bieber was absolutely filthy at the beginning of last year before he went down.  He supposedly looked great in his rehab.  I absolutely love this acquisition.

Beiber has a player option for $16M, so if he's good this year when he returns, he's gone. That's a steep price imo for two months (hopefully) of Beiber. 

[Masterbather]

5 minutes ago, gruber9292 said:

Beiber has a player option for $16M, so if he's good this year when he returns, he's gone. That's a steep price imo for two months (hopefully) of Beiber. 

What would you have preferred? 

It's a seller's market. We needed an ace, there aren't many available. Mid-rotation depth is useless for this team. So the other option is to do nothing about our rotation.

[metafour]

9 minutes ago, gruber9292 said:

Beiber has a player option for $16M, so if he's good this year when he returns, he's gone. That's a steep price imo for two months (hopefully) of Beiber. 

There is nothing preventing the Jays from using the time they have to extend Bieber, especially if he pitches well here and the team succeeds. This is the type of stuff they normally look to do.

[jmomcc]

On his spotrac page, it says 

• 2026 Player Option includes a $4M buyout

What does that mean in practice? Can we pay $4m and essentially make It a 1yr $20m contract?

[Laika]

6 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

On his spotrac page, it says 

• 2026 Player Option includes a $4M buyout

What does that mean in practice? Can we pay $4m and essentially make It a 1yr $20m contract?

No, it means he gets $4M from the team if he declines his option. 

It was basically a way for Cleveland to defer money so they could maybe avoid ever paying it if he was traded. 

[june.june]

Mason Miller and JP Sears to San Diego

[june.june]

Morossi pimping Sandy Alcantara on MLB network 

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, june.june said:

Mason Millet and JP Sears to San Diego

 

[Grant77]

1 minute ago, june.june said:

Mason Miller and JP Sears to San Diego

Wild move. I wonder if he got a better return that the weak one we saw for Duran.

[jmomcc]

Just now, Laika said:

No, it means he gets $4M from the team if he declines his option. 

It was basically a way for Cleveland to defer money so they didn't maybe avoid ever paying it if he was traded. 

Ah ok... 

Yea i'm meh on this until we see him pitch. This isn't an ace any more than Gausman is. 

And if it means Lauer and not Berrios goes to the pen, its barely a net positive based on this year so far. 

It also depends on if they value stephen like fangraphs does obviously. 

[Laika]

Holy crap. They traded De Vries.

[Grant77]

3 minutes ago, Terminator said:

 

Holy crap, what a haul!

[jmomcc]

That's a monster return. Preller probably has the next one on his complex somewhere but still that's crazy. 

[Masterbather]

1 minute ago, jmomcc said:

Ah ok... 

Yea i'm meh on this until we see him pitch. This isn't an ace any more than Gausman is. 

And if it means Lauer and not Berrios goes to the pen, its barely a net positive based on this year so far. 

It also depends on if they value stephen like fangraphs does obviously. 

He is absolutely better than Gausman. He's an ace in every way. 

[june.june]

4 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Wild move. I wonder if he got a better return that the weak one we saw for Duran.

Decent return for the Athletics

 

Olney saying that this could be a precursor to a Cease move, maybe?

[Terminator]

 

[Stangstag]

5 minutes ago, Laika said:

Holy crap. They traded De Vries.

Yeah thats a great get from the A's

[Laika]

1 minute ago, Terminator said:

 

I will laugh so hard if Preller burns De Vries then trades Cease

[jmomcc]

2 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

He is absolutely better than Gausman. He's an ace in every way. 

How?

[sliderguy35]

preller absolutely rocks

getting 4 more years of miller and 3 more of sears (who is gonna look a lot better in that ballpark) is exactly the kind of return you should get from de vries. fangraphs made a good point in their padres prospect list about how outside of merrill, they haven't really been able to develop position player talent at all. 

moving a guy with helium for controllable ML pitching fits right in with their MO.

[metafour]

5 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

Yea i'm meh on this until we see him pitch. This isn't an ace any more than Gausman is. 

Bieber is 30 years old, Gausman is going to be 35 in ~5 months.

The difference here is that Bieber is still in the age range where he can reasonably be expected to pitch consistently at a high level if his stuff is back to normal. He isn't old. Gausman isn't an ace anymore because he is aging and declining, as expected.

Bieber was absolutely elite in a small 12-inning sample last season before he blew his arm out: 20 strikeouts to 1 walk in 12 innings.

[june.june]

Defense questionable but damn that line up of Seattle would be a very tough out in a Wild Card series