7 trade targets from the Cleveland Guardians for the Colorado Rockies

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Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Shane Bieber

CLEVELAND, OHIO – JUNE 13: Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Indians pitches during a game against the Seattle Mariners at Progressive Field on June 13, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber would provide the Colorado Rockies with a former Cy Young Award winner

One of the reasons why the Cleveland Guardians were the most-winningest team in the American League from 2013 through 2020 is because of their excellent drafting and development of pitchers. Case in point, for the next three pitchers on our list, they were all drafted in the 2016 Amateur Draft and none of the three were higher than the third round. All three would be great in the Colorado Rockies rotation.

For comparison, this is the draft where the Rockies draft was highlighted by Riley Pint, Robert Tyler, Ben Bowden, Garrett Hampson, Colton Welker, Brian Serven.

In the 4th round of that draft, the then-named Indians drafted Shane Bieber in the 4th round. Four years later, he won a Cy Young Award.

Bieber, 26, made his debut in 2018 and suffered from some bad luck (4.55 ERA but a 3.23 FIP in 20 games, 19 of which were starts). In 2019, he was one of the best starters in the AL as he had a 3.28 ERA in 34 games (33 starts) with 214 1/3 innings pitched, a 144 ERA+, a 3.32 FIP, a 1.054 WHIP, a league-leading 1.7 BB/9, and 10.9 K/9. He was an All-Star and came in 4th in Cy Young voting.

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