Shane & Gain

 

It's very odd, considering how low-key I'd assumed Shane Bieber had been since winning his Cy Young in 2020, that in all actuality, Bieber has been one of the most consistent pitchers in the game since coming up.

It's odd because right now we have an MLB that rewards the shiniest objects. Since 2019, Justin Verlander has won a Cy Young, gotten injured for two years and then won another Cy Young, and now he is currently injured. Robbie Ray had a big year in 2021, then has sort of moped around through injuries in Seattle. Bieber, meanwhile, won the award in 2020, lost a tiny bit of playing time in 2021 but has been consistent ever since, currently sports a career 3.18 ERA and a .671 W/L%, and has yet to play a losing season. It's also funny that Bieber joined the Guardians during their mega-rotation era, soon became one of their top arms and has lasted long enough to see the Guardians' top assets in a competing year again.

I've made the joke that the Guardians were noncompetitive until the moment they changed their name to the Guardians, and they've been great ever since. And while, yes, it's more of an uphill battle for a younger, small-ball-centric contact team to retain success, they've had some nice teams in their first two years with the new name. The big names have remained, such as Jose Ramirez and Bieber himself, but fans have rallied around people like Andres Gimenez, Trevor Stephan, Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor. 

What's most amusing about the current version of these Guardians teams is that, alongside a dominant-as-usual Shane Bieber and usual hurlers like Zach Plesac and Cal Quantrill, the Guards have become auditioning people for the other rotation spots as Civale and McKenzie are hurt. Initial ones, like Hunter Gaddis and Peyton Battenfield, have delivered middling results but they've let loose two straight excellent rookie performances thanks to Logan Allen [not that one, the other one] having a remarkable debut and Tanner Bibee stymieing the Rockies in his debut yesterday. Like they have before, ironically with now-relievers like Eli Morgan and Nick Sandlin, the Guardians are cultivating a deep cache of starters to prevent against the all-too-frequent injuries, and making sure they'll never be unprepared again. Even if Civale, who was strong before the injury, and Triston McKenzie, who is...Triston McKenzie, come back strong, those guys are still tested MLB options and can be called on whenever, a lot like Bieber when he was first activated.

As always, the Guardians are doing a lot right, and even if it's not immediately paying dividends, it may eventually lead to postseason success. If Bieber remains this strong and the team has this many moving parts, it might be another contact-friendly October for these guys.

Coming Tonight: It took him a few years to come into his own, but at least he did it while his team inexplicably became great.