NL exec weighs in on possibility of Guardians trading Shane Bieber

It sounds like MLB teams don't expect the small-market Cleveland Guardians will make ace Shane Bieber available before the summer trade deadline. 

"They don't really shop their guys, but they'll always listen," an unnamed National League executive told ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney about the Guardians. "But they also have good young players and they usually improve over the season; they've got a great chance to win that division. I think they'll keep him."

The 2022 Guardians surprised many by winning the American League Central title before they got past the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card round of the playoffs. However, Cleveland has started this season at 17-20, and ESPN stats show the Guardians began Thursday night dead last in all of MLB with 126 runs scored. 

"The Guardians, through 37 games, have mustered a team slash line of .221/.297/.325," Zack Meisel of The Athletic pointed out. "Randy Johnson, during his 22-year career, held hitters to a slash line of .221/.297/.353. In other words, to this point, the Guardians have made every pitcher they’ve faced resemble a first-ballot Hall of Famer." 

In February 2022, Sarah Langs mentioned for the MLB website how Cleveland traded both C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee not long after they earned Cy Young Award honors with the club. Bieber, the winner of the award for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, is on track to hit free agency after the 2024 campaign and could be traded to acquire multiple top-tier assets similar to how the Guardians sent shortstop Francisco Lindor to the New York Mets back in 2021.

The Guardians are hardly out of the division race, though, as they entered Thursday evening trailing the first-place Minnesota Twins by only three-and-a-half games. 

"That team is just filled with so many injury questions," a doubting "evaluator" told Olney about the Twins. 

The nature of conversations regarding Bieber's future could change if Minnesota holds a double-digit lead over Cleveland in the division standings coming off the All-Star break. For now, though, it sounds like Olney expects the Guardians will "punt on the question about Bieber's future into the upcoming offseason," when they may have to take calls about the right-hander who turns just 28 years old on the last day of May.