2) Shane Bieber
Shane Bieber is another one of those guys we would’ve loved to see suit up for the Mets. That was then. This is now. Bieber missed most of the 2024 season due to injury. We can’t fairly judge him on what he did in those starts. So we go back to 2023 when he wasn’t as sharp as he had been in the past.
Bieber posted a 3.80 ERA for the Cleveland Guardians in 21 starts. His strikeouts fell to 7.5 per 9 after the previous season when they had already tailed off a little bit at 8.9 per 9. This was a guy who has averaged over 10 per 9 in his career.
In this MLB career that began in 2018, missing time has been a habit of his. A valiant innings eater when healthy with two seasons of 200+ innings pitched, he tossed only 96.2 in 2021 after winning the Cy Young in the previous abbreviated campaign in 2020.
All players, especially pitchers, seem to carry the risk of injury. Bieber certainly seems to fall into a similar category as Severino. He was never quite as bad as Severino became with the New York Yankees. So why not take a chance on him?
The 2025 Mets shouldn’t be about taking chances with big roster spots.