Reese Kaplan -- Trevor Ain't Clever -- Just Say No!

 

A few times now I’ve expressed some displeasure at the prospect of bringing a career 3.90 ERA pitcher onto the team and making him by all media counts the highest Average Annual Value (AAV) contract in the history of baseball.  We are talking, of course, about one Trevor Bauer, but today we’re going to look beyond the dollars and cents.

Currently the king of the AAV list is the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole.  Whether or not he deserves the enormous 9-year contract he got from the Bronx Bombers isn’t the issue here.  He’s paid $36 million per year for a period of nine years.  He was age 29 when he put on the pinstripes and currently sports a career record of 101-55 with a 3.19 ERA and has earned a WAR rating overall of 26 over his eight years in the majors.

Reports filtered out that the Mets allegedly were going to offer Bauer even more money because he’s an even better pitcher, right?  Well…his career record is 76-64 with a 3.90 ERA and a WAR over his nine-year career of 17.5.  To put it another way, he’s had two stellar seasons in the span (including the very short 2020 endeavor) but pitches overall far worse than the guy leading the pack in AAV.

Let’s forget about money for once and instead concentrate on what kind of player Trevor Bauer would be to have as part of the fabric of the Mets team.  First of all, he’s a hard worker.  No one can deny that about him.  However, his methods of exercise and his embracing of thinking-enhancement routines are a bit out of the ordinary.  That doesn’t make them bad, but different can sometimes rub teammates and trainers the wrong way.

Speaking of teammates, Mr. Bauer has had a great many of them over his career.  He’s pitched for three clubs thus far and is now pursuing his fourth.  The first question that arises is why there is so much team to team movement if he was the ace he claims to be?  After all, in seven of his nine seasons he’s been 4^th to 5^th starter quality. 

The issue today, however, isn’t what he does in preparation to take the mound or in the game itself.  It is a question of how well he’ll fit into the ballclub as he is a very active member of social media . It has not always been good. 

There was an infamous incident of fighting online with the police who objected to how he deployed his drones.  Then there was his active and vocal bashing of anti-Trump people after the man was elected President.  He’s bragged he’s a better pitcher than former teammate Corey Kluber (who has a 98-58 career record with a 3.16 ERA and earned 32.3 WAR).  Bauer can’t sniff those numbers.

The other issue is he’s pretty vicious whenever he disagrees with someone on social media.  It goes beyond the blocking of followers.  In one well-covered case he did not see eye to eye with a young lady who was critical of his arrogance online.  He went and found pictures of the woman drinking alcohol before age 21 and published them.  In the exchange he said he doesn’t perceive of himself as an adult but as a 12 year old child. 

So the question is whether the Mets want the latter day version of Curt Schilling (but worse) on their team?  If he pitched as well as Schilling, maybe you could make a baseball argument.  After all, Schilling won over 200 games and finished with 79.5 WAR.  Bauer’s nowhere near that caliber of hurler plus he brings even more disrespected and distasteful baggage with him.

There’s a reason it’s this far along in the pre-season and no one has yet snagged Bauer and his WWE agent to a contract.  Obviously there are concerns about his personality.  There should be equal concerns about his ability.  I don’t feel it is a smart move bringing a player on board who is more likely to land on the front page than the back page of the newspaper.