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Future cloudy for Cleveland ace Bieber as surgery looms | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Future cloudy for Cleveland  ace Bieber as surgery looms | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber held it together Monday for as long as he could.

The Cleveland Guardians ace has spent the past few days trying to process his new reality — Tommy John surgery and not pitching again this season.

It’s been harder than he imagined.

His voice choked with emotion, Bieber paused while speaking to reporters for the first time since deciding to have the surgery, a procedure that will end his 2024 season.

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Bieber, who missed more than two months last season with elbow issues, somehow gutted out two starts — 12 scoreless innings and 20 strikeouts against Oakland and Seattle — before succumbing to pain.

He’s now suffering in a different way, and Bieber is still struggling to accept that he has to move forward.

“Baseball will be there,” the 2020 Cy Young winner said, speaking softly. “I will be here. It’s easy to keep things in perspective. It’s just an injury that I’ll get past. I’m not the first person, won’t be the last. One of the things that is a bit more difficult for me is that throughout the offseason and in spring training, I did figure some things out and my performance was getting back to the place that I knew I was capable of.

“I was falling back in love with pitching, and I was having a lot of fun.”

Bieber hasn’t scheduled the surgery yet, but he intends to have it done as soon as possible so he can begin a lengthy rehab and recovery.

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The 28-year-old, who is in his final year under contract, said he initially felt soreness in his opening-day start against the Athletics. He chalked it up to being his first outing but sensed it was something more.

He took the mound against the Mariners last week knowing he would have to push his elbow to the limit.

“It was either it goes away or it’s surgery,” he said.

In that start, Bieber said the elbow bothered him from “warmup one to pitch 83, so it was an emotional time.”

In the days after, he consulted with team doctors, received outside opinions from renowned orthopedists Dr. Keith Meister and Dr. Neal ElAttrache and decided to have the surgery. At this point, he has no other choice.

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Bieber is just one of several big-name pitchers who have been diagnosed with elbow injuries. Atlanta’s Spencer Strider, the New York Yankees’ Jonathan Loaisiga, Miami’s Eury Perez and Oakland’s Trevor Gott are others.

Over the weekend, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark blamed the spike in elbow injuries on the pitch clock, which was introduced last season to mixed reviews. While it speeds up games, it’s also possible it has contributed to pitchers working too fast and potentially risking injury.

“I’m not ready to say that that’s the reason that it happened,” Bieber said. “From a conditioning and cardiovascular standpoint, that hasn’t affected pitchers, I don’t think. So it’s hard to say what’s going on in the inner workings of the elbow and the arm. We’ll see what’s to come of it.”

Bieber’s future in Cleveland is cloudier than ever.

The Guardians previously offered him a long-term contract, but Bieber had been reluctant to sign, in hopes of cashing in as a free agent. The team considered trading him before his elbow flared up last season, and that seemed to be a possible scenario this year.

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Now, nothing is certain.

“It’s a very real elephant in the room, so to speak,” Bieber said of his contract situation. “It’s unfortunate the timing of everything, but as athletes, you can’t control some of these things. So we do what we can. We stay positive.

“I’ve got an amazing support system with my family, with my teammates, with everybody around here, and I’m excited to keep my head down, move forward, and it’s easy to keep things in perspective. Things could be a lot worse, I’ll put it that way.”

    Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber throws against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
 
 
  photo  Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber throws against the Seattle Mariners during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
 
 



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Arkansas' 4 Republican US House members face challenges from Democratic rivals

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Arkansas' 4 Republican US House members face challenges from Democratic rivals


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ four Republican U.S. House members face challenges in this year’s election from Democratic rivals who are mounting uphill battles to break the GOP’s hold on the state’s federal delegation.

Republican U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack and Bruce Westerman are seeking reelection in the heavily GOP state. Republicans have held all of the state’s U.S. House and Senate seats since 2013.

Crawford, who has represented the 1st Congressional District since 2011, faces a challenge from Democratic nominee Rodney Govens. The 1st District covers eastern Arkansas and includes the cities of Jonesboro, West Memphis and Helena-West Helena. Libertarian Steve Parsons is also running for the seat.

Crawford is a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee and has said he will seek the top Republican spot on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the next Congress.

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Govens, a Cabot resident who has worked in the telecommunications industry, has called for improving the Veterans Administration system and foster care across the country. Crawford has said he wants to address the nation’s debt by enacting permanent spending controls.

Hill, who was first elected to the 2nd District in 2014 and is vice chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is running against Democratic nominee Marcus Jones. The 2nd District seat covers central Arkansas, and it includes Little Rock.

Democrats have tried unsuccessfully in recent years to try to reclaim the district, hoping to rely heavily on turnout in Little Rock despite the state’s further lurch to the right. The majority-GOP Legislature in 2021 redrew the redistrict lines, moving thousands of predominantly Black voters out of the 2nd District.

Hill has focused heavily on immigration in his reelection, calling for more border security, and on measures he says will help tackle inflation. Jones is a retired Army colonel who served as senior Army adviser to the Arkansas Army National Guard at Camp Robinson. Jones has called for expanding the child tax credit and legislation to increase rural health care access.

Womack, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, was first elected to the 3rd District in 2010 and is running against Democrat Caitlin Draper, a clinical social worker from Fayetteville.

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The 3rd District covers northwest Arkansas and includes the cities of Fayetteville, Springdale and Fort Smith.

Womack, the former chairman of the House Budget Committee, was the only one of the state’s House members to face a primary challenge in March, defeating state Sen. Clint Penzo. Womack had the backing of the state’s top Republicans in that contest, including GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Womack has cited border security as a priority and has said he believes he has the experience to find bipartisan solutions in a closely divided Congress.

Draper, like other Democrats running for House seats in Arkansas, has said she supports legislation at the federal level protecting access to abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision striking down Roe v. Wade. She has also said cited climate change and health care as top issues.

Libertarian Bobby Wilson is also running for the seat.

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Westerman, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, was first elected to the 4th District in 2014. He is running against Risie Howard, an attorney from Pine Bluff.

The 4th district covers southern Arkansas and includes Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Texarkana.

Westerman, a former state legislator and the only forester in the House, has touted his work on forestry legislation and said his priorities in the next Congress also include energy and mining issues. Howard has said she wants to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and protect Social Security.



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Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports

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Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports





Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports







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Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast

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Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast


Today’s Locked On Ole Miss Podcast discusses why Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels will beat the Arkansas Razorbacks in Saturday’s matchup. This will be the next opportunity to play clean football, and I think they will put it together against the Hogs and Sam Pittman and cut down on the penalties that have been allowing teams to stay in the game.

This matchup is absolutely massive for the Rebels because of what it means in the season as a whole, and Taylen Green against the Ole Miss defense will draw everyone’s eye. People look at the Arkansas stats and assume this is a typical Bobby Petrino team, and that isn’t quite right. John Nabors of Locked On Razorbacks said that if Ole Miss goes up by 14, it is over because this team is not a play-from-behind team.

In our final segment of the day, we give our final thoughts on Ole Miss vs. Arkansas and talk about expectations for Saturday and why everything points to an Ole Miss win, but Ole Miss fans before a trip to Fayetteville have seen this movie before.

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