Shane Bieber elbow surgery

MINNEAPOLIS — For the second consecutive year, the Guardians are going to lose Shane Bieber for a significant amount of time due to elbow trouble. This time, surgery is required.

On Saturday, the Guardians announced that Bieber will need to get surgery to reconstruct his ulnar collateral ligament. The team is working with Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas to figure out a time for the procedure.

After Bieber’s Opening Day start in Oakland, he felt some pain in his elbow. When he toed the rubber again in Seattle, it persisted. That led the team to order some additional tests and scans, which revealed the injury to the same ligament he had problems with last year. After getting second opinions from Dr. Meister and Dr. Neal ElAttrache, surgery was determined to be the best route moving forward.

You wouldn’t have known that Bieber was dealing with any pain. The right-hander dominated in his first two outings, racking up 20 strikeouts over 12 combined innings. His velocity was trending in the right direction. His changeup and curveball were the best they’ve been in years. He was starting to look like the 2020 AL Cy Young version of himself. Instead, he has no idea what his future holds.

This is a tricky situation for any pitcher, but even more so for Bieber, who is in his final year with the Guardians. If he would’ve remained as stellar as he was in the first two starts, he could’ve been a trade candidate come July. If Cleveland stayed in contention, he could’ve been the leader of this staff to another fun run like the group had in ‘22. But most importantly, he was trying to pad his résumé as he entered free agency. Instead, he faces a long road back to the mound.