Guardians Cy Young Award winner linked to Cubs in trade proposal

Shane Bieber hasn't thrown a major league pitch since the spring of 2024, but the award-winning righty still has some draft stock in him, it seems. 

The Chicago Cubs, though they're currently neck-and-neck with the Milwaukee Brewers for the lead in the National League Central, have a serious need of starting pitching on their team, though the offense is doing stellar thanks to the breakout of NL MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong. 

But according to Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, the Cubbies could be in line to land the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner as he continues to recover from his surgery. 

In Reuter's article laying out one move for each MLB team to make before the 2025 MLB deadline, he labeled the Cubs making a trade with Cleveland to give them their ace in exchange for Chicago's No. 5 prospect Jonathon Long.

Reuter calls back to last year when the Guardians pulled this kind of move at the trade deadline to pick up a then-rehabbing Alex Cobb, who ended up starting for the team as they advanced to the postseason and made it to the ALCS before losing to the New York Yankees. 

Cleveland and Bieber agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract this past offseason, and is still on his way back to the pros, striking out 14 batters in 7.1 innings over his first three rehab starts, clearly still showing signs of the Bieber of old. 

The Cubs still have just over 24 hours to make this move, assuming they want it that badly.