One of the most intriguing free agent pitchers, maybe ever, just said he's play for league minimum, for literally anyone who offers him a contract. Should the Phillies go after him?
The last time we saw Trevor Bauer on a major league mound, he was half way through what was shaping up to be a pretty good season for the Dodgers. One year removed from winning the Cy Young award in the Covid shortened 2020 season, Bauer was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and 1.003 WHIP, with 137 strike outs for in 17 starts for the 106 win Dodgers. That's when everything came to a screeching halt. On July 2, 2021, the MLB placed him on administrative leave while they conducted an investigation into a sexual assault allegation. When all was said and done, 3 different women ended up accusing him of sexual assault, all of which he denied. I am not going to get into the details here, but there are plenty of articles that discuss, at length, the accusations, which if true, are very disturbing.
Ultimately, the MLB decided to suspend Bauer for a record 324 games, which cost him the rest of the 2021 and all of 2022. One December 22, 2022, an arbitrator shortened the suspension to just the 194 games he has already missed. On January 6, 2023, the Dodgers DFA'd Bauer, and he hasn't signed with an MLB club since.
After a pretty good season in Japan, Bauer is looking for an MLB contract. He went on Theo Von's "This Past Weekend" podcast to discuss his future, where he states he will play for a league minimum, incentive laden deal. He just wants the chance to show he can still play.
Now getting a Cy Young winner at league minimum is intriguing, no matter the situation. But is Bauer worth it, not only from the PR hit you will undoubtedly take, but from an on-field perspective?
I say no. Even if you were to overlook the sexual assault allegations, and to be fair to Trevor, he did provide some pretty strong evidence that he was set up by his accuser, and they ultimately settled for no money after Bauer countersued her, he was pretty disliked by a lot of his teammates.
Miguel Montero, his first catcher in the big leagues, nicknamed him "Bobblehead" because he shook off so many of his pitches. He also said Bauer didn't listen to anyone, and sarcastically wished Carlos Santana, Cleveland's catcher at the time, "good luck" in having to deal with him.
He was well known to scream at teammates when they made errors behind him.
And of course, the infamous throwing the ball 300 feet over the center field wall when Terry Francona pulled him from a game. There are plenty other examples of this.
So at worst, hes a sexual predator, at best hes a weirdo. His teammates hate him. How is he on the field?
With the exception of 2018, 2020, and the first half of 2021, Bauer was surprisingly average. And I have to admit, I thought his overall numbers would have been better. Since 2020 was the Covid shortened season and he only had 11 starts, the only above average full season he has had in the majors was 2018/ His career WHIP of 1.24 would have been good for 28th in the league last season. He's only hit 200 Ks twice in a season. His career ERA is 3.79, which would have been 26th last season. He does pitch a lot of innings though, so at least he can save your bullpen.
So with the exception of two (really one full) outlier seasons, Trevor Bauer has mainly been average. Throw in the backlash they would get for signing him, the fact that he's a bad teammate, and he's 33 and hasn't pitched at the major league level in 3 years.
The Phillies are, for better or worse, a vibes team. Can't have a guy like that come in and ruin the vibes.*
*I reserve the right to scream about not signing him if he signs with the Braves or Mets and kills the Phillies