Trevor Bauer + Wednesday Roundup #3
Edition #64
Trevor Bauer
Y’all. There’s a guy named Trevor Bauer.
He’s 33 years old and he has played in Major League Baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah. He was born in Los Angeles.
This guy is playing in Japan now, but why? I mean. He has experience in the major leagues. Why’d he opt for Japan?
He didn’t opt for Japan. Heck, we’re going to be talking about that in a bit.
Bauer sued Lindsay Hill for defamation, accusing her of falsely claiming that he had beaten and sexually abused her. These allegations led to Bauer's suspension from Major League Baseball and… His career… Over. Done.
I am not going to share what he said (not appropriate for this newsletter), but you can find out right here. Link
Oh. Before I forget. Lindsay Hill = the woman who accused Trevor. It wasn’t just here though. There were many others, which was the main reason this case continued on.
Now. Many of you already know this. What I’m going to talk about is him facing Dodgers prospects and predicting if he gets a contract.
First of all. Let’s talk about him facing those prospects.
The Dodgers have the best farm system in the game. Even if you say that the Diamondbacks or another team may be better, you cannot argue. In fact, the Dodgers prospect team is good enough to make the MLB playoffs by itself. I’m dead serious.
On Sunday, Bauer dominated on the mound, pitching three scoreless innings for the Asian Breeze, a pay-to-play team consisting mostly of young players hoping to attract the attention of scouts. Bauer isn’t young (33), but he wants to get noticed by scouts. This is what he said.
"I mean, if you think about it, I should have the opportunity to sign with a big league team," Bauer said. "I'm just asking for the league minimum, so it's not a money thing. I've served my suspension twice over. I've been cleared of everything in the legal system. If you think about it logically, there's really no reason I shouldn't have a job. But I don't. So it is what it is. We'll see how it plays out. I don't want to predict the future. We'll see."
Well. Guess what?
There were NO scouts at the game.
Before all this suspension stuff, Bauer signed a very lucrative contract. A three-year, $102 million contract.
"I don't really care who I pitch against, honestly," Bauer said when asked how it felt to face a Dodgers-affiliated team. "I just like to pitch. Hopefully, they enjoyed it and had a good time. I tried to enjoy it and have a good time, tried to entertain the fans, which is what I always try to do. Dodgers or any other team, it doesn't really matter. I just enjoy pitching."
Who were they?
Hundreds of fans packed the small set of bleachers behind the backstop. A few of them were wearing Bauer jerseys and "Bring Bauer Back" T-shirts.
How did Bauer do in 2023? Pretty dang good! With the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars in Japan, he went 11-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 156 2/3 innings. In his MLB career? Bauer is 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in parts of 10 MLB seasons. He has won a Cy-Young award with the Reds in the 2020 season.
Will he get a contract?
With an MLB team in the 2024 season? No.
Look. He’s already playing in the NPB for the 2024 season. No one wants to risk bringing Bauer, because the track record isn’t good and while he has set MLB records in great ways, he’s also set some pretty bad ones (such as the 324-game suspension).
Do I see Trevor getting a contract for the 2025 season? Yes. There will be one team desperate for pitching and next year’s pitching class… While it contains some very big names, like Max Fried, it isn’t the most deep. Therefore, Bauer will have to be selected by a team. That team is the… Giants.
The Giants lost a pretty big starter, Ross Stripling. Their pitching is so horrendous for the upcoming 2024 season. Proof?
And, the thing is? They didn’t even care about this. They went along, adding everyone else. From Jung Hoo Lee to Matt Chapman, they didn’t focus on what they NEEDED.
That’s Bauer. Next season. Until then? Prove yourself in the NPB.
Wednesday Roundup #3
Alright! Let’s put together some of my favorite posts this week!
. With an AMAZING post. . Why not three-peat? Seriously. Tyler Dunne does us the thinking. AGAIN. . Seriously. Those were some pretty sweet interviews!. No Jacob. I’m not going to listen to you. The Spurs are all about Wemby. But, are they? Wemby’s supporting cast. The Other Guys. and : Yup! Our collab! You GOTTA check it out. All About the Celtics.. Oh yeah. Caitlin Clark declared for the WNBA Draft sometime back and Neil Paine wrote about it. Well? What are you waiting for?. I’m not much of a rugby guy, but I understand this article. I understand it so very much. You HAVE to check it out. It’s a must-read.. Cowboys. Why the hell did you not go all-in? Oh well. I don’t have to explain it. I’ll let Ryan do the talking.Alright. That’s all for this week’s roundup. If you want to see all the posts I liked over the past week? Look no further than this place! https://substack.com/@sportssquare/likes
COMING UP:
FRIDAY: The Big Mailbag
Weekend or Monday: Commanders and their initiative this offseason
See ya later!
— Smayan Srikanth
Thanks for both the shout out and the praise of my interviews Smayan!
I'm a giants fan and Bauer is the last guy we want. They need Snell or Monty. Otherwise, You got everything right about Bauer and his legal probs. (I read the news article)