The Guardians were busy on Thursday morning, trading ace Shane Bieber to the Blue Jays for righty Khal Stephen, who was ranked No. 5 on Toronto's Top 30 Prospects list, and reliever Paul Sewald to the Tigers for a player to be named or cash.
Bieber, 30, has spent his entire career with the Guardians, and he has been recovering from Tommy John surgery this season. But under Cleveland’s watch, he developed from a fourth-round Draft pick nine years ago to one of the top starters in the Majors -- yet another success story from the vaunted “Cleveland Pitching Factory.”
The Guardians hope Stephen will be one of their next success stories. He is now the top-ranked pitching prospect in the organization, as MLB Pipeline listed him as Cleveland’s No. 7 prospect overall after Thursday’s trade.
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TRADE DETAILS
Guardians get: RHP Khal Stephen (now their No. 7 prospect)
Blue Jays get: RHP Shane Bieber
Tigers get: RHP Paul Sewald
Guardians get: PTBN or cash
The Guardians did not send any cash to Toronto in the Bieber deal.
“Obviously, it's a very difficult one for us,” said Guardians president Chris Antonetti of the trade. “As everyone knows, we really appreciate all of Shane's contributions to our organization in his time with us.
“We appreciate the fact that he trusted us to help him continue on his path back to being a successful Major League starting pitcher and are grateful at the impact that he made along the way. But we're also really excited to be able to add Khal Stephen to our organization.”
Stephen, 22, was Toronto’s second-round pick in 2024. Antonetti noted Cleveland did its best to select him, before the Jays landed him with the No. 59 overall pick.
Stephen made his pro debut this year and has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the Blue Jays’ farm system. A right-hander who stands 6-foot-4, he opened 2025 in Single-A and was promoted to High-A on May 20, then to Double-A on July 20. He has posted a combined record of 9-1 with a 2.06 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) across three levels this season.
Stephen went on the 7-day injured list last Thursday due to a right shoulder impingement. He has resumed throwing and will likely report to Double-A Akron when he is ready to return to game action.
"We think he's a guy that's capable of not only logging innings at the Major League level but pitching pretty effectively," Antonetti said. "So we'll be excited to continue to partner with Khal and his development as he progresses toward that."
Bieber, who made his MLB debut on May 31, 2018, has a career 3.22 ERA and 958 strikeouts in 843 innings over 136 games (134 starts). He won the 2020 American League Cy Young Award by recording a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings over 12 starts during the shortened season.
Bieber has made just two starts over the past year and a half, both coming last April, when he struck out 20 and walked one over 12 scoreless innings. His 2024 campaign was cut short after he underwent Tommy John surgery following those two outings, and he returned to the Guardians last December on a one-year, $10 million deal that includes a $16 million player option for ‘26. He has been working his way back to the Majors over the course of this season.
Bieber was trending toward a potential late June or early July season debut, but he experienced soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow following his first rehab start, on May 31. He was shut down from throwing for a week, after he consulted with his surgeon, Dr. Keith Meister, and has since resumed his progression without issue.
Bieber has made four rehab starts in July, between the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron. In his most recent outing, on Tuesday with Akron, he threw 57 pitches over four innings. It marked the longest start of his progression, and based upon the pitch count volume, he is poised to get back to the big leagues in early to mid-August.
Had Bieber opted out of his contract this fall, the Guardians could have extended him a qualifying offer. If he rejected it, Cleveland would have received Draft pick compensation in 2026. The Guardians instead parted ways with him now and received a well-regarded prospect.
Sewald signed a one-year deal with Cleveland on Jan. 22, but his tenure was marked by two stints on the injured list. He went on the shelf on April 29 with a right shoulder strain and was activated on July 5. He went back on the IL on July 15, and an MRI revealed a moderate teres major strain.
Sewald recorded a 4.70 ERA over 18 appearances with Cleveland.