A buy-low trade offer for the Mets to propose to the Guardians for Shane Bieber

Despite playing lousy and under-performing baseball, the New York Mets are tipped to be buyers on their way to the next deadline and compete for a postseason spot. Due to the current payroll, giving up at this point is not on the minds of Steve Cohen and the Front Office.

Within the areas in which improvements need to be implemented, pitching seems to be the greatest need of all. Given this, there are several options in the starting pitching market, Shane Bieber being a top target that can be obtained at a lower price than in previous years.

The Mets should offer Mark Vientos, Bryce Montes de Oca, and Christian Scott for Shane Bieber

The Cleveland Guardians have entertained the idea of ​​trading Shane Bieber in the past as part of their strategies of trading players, advancing their cost in arbitrage to drive the highest return possible. This year seems like the ideal time for the Guardians to manage to trade Bieber, given that he still has another year of control before being a free agent.

Shane Bieber is a renowned player who has been a two-time all-star and won the Cy Young Award in the shortened 2020 season. His success has been on a high ratio of putouts generated via strikeouts.

However, the pitching profile of the Ace of the Guardians has changed this season. His ERA has been affected by a decrease in his strikeouts, which have been falling since 2021, to the lowest point of his career in 2023, and added to this, an increase in bases on balls.

Among his pitches, the fastball and the cutter, the ones most used by the pitcher, are connected at an average above .280, with the fastball being the one of concern since it is generating a lousy whiff% below 10%. However, the speed of his pitches remains at the same level as last year, which may mean one more problem with the command and location of pitches.

In this sense, the main problem that most attack Bieber is that the opposition's contact has increased, especially outside the strike zone, and they are getting positive results despite this, possibly due to the limitation in the use of the shift. Anyway, Bieber's profile doesn't look as worrisome as his results, which with a few tweaks can reverse these negative effects.

Therefore, this may represent an opportunity for the Mets to acquire Shane Bieber for less. In a trade headed by Mark Vientos and complemented by up-and-coming pitchers like Bryce Montes de Oca and Christian Scott, the organization's No. 19 and No. 27 prospects, could be enough to tap into a Guardians' desperation.

By acquiring Bieber, the Mets would vastly improve their pitching rotation. With this trade, the team can put pressure on the standings for a position in the moving forward postseason.