Let's make a trade offer for Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber

What will it take for the New York Mets to land Shane Bieber in a trade from the Cleveland Guardians? It would probably look nothing close to what they gave up last year for Chris Bassitt. The situation with Bieber is much different. He’s younger, a little further away from free agency, and a bit more proven.

Prying Bieber away from the Guardians isn’t the easiest thing to do but also not impossible. This is the same organization that continually tries to reload rather than re-sign or extend its top stars. Bieber’s salary is getting increasingly higher and a team like the Mets with a need for some long-term rotation arms should call them up to see what it could take.

What a Mets trade with the Guardians for Shane Bieber could look like

We’re going to have throw a lot of assets into this deal. It won’t look anything like those nutso trade proposals last summer for Juan Soto or Shohei Ohtani. The Mets will wait and see if either of them reach free agency—especially Ohtani after the 2023 season. For Bieber, here’s what I propose:

Mets Receive: Shane Bieber
Guardians Receive: Kevin Parada OR Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos, Tylor Megill OR David Peterson, top 15-30 prospect or less

The Guardians don’t have a Carlos Carrasco on their roster at the moment for the Mets to take in the deal, too. Taking into consideration that Cleveland would probably like to compete against next season even without Bieber around, this type of trade gives them plenty of it.

Cleveland gets their choice of catching prospect Kevin Parada or infielder Ronny Mauricio. Mauricio may only make sense for the Guardians if they deal away Amed Rosario—something they seem to be willing to do. They get Mark Vientos to slot in as a first baseman/DH as soon as next year or wherever it is they plan to play him. They also receive their choice of Tylor Megill or David Peterson. They’re kind of neck-and-neck on the Mets depth chart with their own pluses and minuses. Whoever it is they do choose gets to take Bieber’s spot in the rotation.

Finally, the Guardians can pick any Mets prospect ranked 15-30 or even lower if they so choose. They can take any list they want as long as it wasn’t written by someone within the organization.

Would this be enough to acquire Bieber? Maybe not quite. From a Mets perspective, it doesn’t sting enough. Parada is the 37th top prospect in baseball right now and losing him wouldn’t hurt simply because of Francisco Alvarez’s existence. Everyone else involved in the deal is expendable. What if it had to include Parada and Mauricio? That’s when it starts to hurt. It could also be the moment where I’d back off and see what else is out there.

The Mets probably only have the resources for one major trade this offseason. Bieber is the guy to target. Will the Guardians be kind enough to take the bets offer the Mets can make?