Seton Hall
Where will Trevor Bauer land next season?
Date: January 6, 2021By: Joe Walls
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As we have now rolled into the new year it seems as though the MLB free agency period has come to nothing less than a screeching halt. There are still many teams looking for a big-name free agent and many free agents still looking for a team, these include the likes of D.J. LeMahieu, though from many reports it seems to be a two-team race on that front between the Mets and Yankees, J.T. Realmuto who we have heard next to nothing about since the beginning of the offseason when the Philadelphia Phillies GM said he was priority number one on the free agency market for the team, and the final big name that seems to be on everyone’s mind and in every baseball Twitter thread. Trevor Bauer.
Now I have talked about Bauer before and his amazing season this year in Cincinnati, it was so good he ended up netting the Reds their first Cy Young award. Through all this people seem to have no idea where Bauer will end up, with the Reds seemingly out of the picture for the Bauer sweepstakes, I want to go over a few of the teams that seem to be in on Bauer and what their draws for the prime ace seem to be and a few of their glaring flaws that may drive him away.
One of the big names that always seems to be in the conversation for Bauer is the Los Angles Angels, so what is the draw that people seem to think this team has? Well, for one I think it is their real need of starting pitching and a veteran presence in their core rotation, while they have guys like Shohei Ohtani and Dylan Bundy, their current vet, the other two men in this rotation do not have favorable ERAs and for all we know Ohtani could become a full-time hitter by the end of 2021 even though the Angels organization still want him to be a two-way player both on the mound and at the plate.
Peter Joneleit/Britannica
The other big draw I think the Angels have at this current moment also involves Ohtani and that is the Angels budding offense that showed it is on the up and up during the 2020 COVID-19-ridden season. They have guys who can get their starters the run support they need to carry the team into the late stages of the game, something that at times it seemed like Bauer really relied on and something Cincinnati struggled with through the season.
The Angels have guys like Trout, Rendon, Jo Adell, and others who can get on base, drive players in and get the ball beyond the wall. This could be a huge help to Bauer who performed beyond well when his team gave him the offensive support he needed.
The only real flaw I can see being a drawback for this LA team is the fact that the starters may get overworked with the two best bullpen pitchers being Raisel Iglesias and Mike Mayers, and one of the two of those pitchers is a short from closer in Iglesias. This leaves almost no room for error for starters and may need them to go into overtime when it comes to pitching in bigger games.
Another team that was in the conversation for a long while were the New York Mets, and it seemed like more then, anything the fans were pushing this narrative, but my god do the Mets have many enticing pieces to bring in Bauer.
First of all, this would finally put Bauer in the big market of New York something I believe a guy like him should want; another big seller is the rotation. Imagine replacing Seth Lugo or David Peterson with Bauer, then you have a team of proven winners in deGrom, Stroman, Matz, Syndergaard and Bauer. That rotation will be a force to be reckoned with, and as a Phillies fan has haunted my dreams since the beginning of free agency.
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I think the biggest drawback of the Mets is honestly the offense, while yes, they have guys like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil. Last year proved that while Alonso is good, he may not be as exceptional as we all thought. This team is not known for putting much in terms of runs up on the board and that is why you see guys like deGrom work basically a whole game in a 0-0 tie or a 1-0 Mets win. Add to that again the possible overworking of starters because of a lack of bullpen strength, in 2020 the Mets best reliever was again the closer Edwin Diaz, who had a 1.5 ERA in 25 innings, the next best was Jeurys Familia who had a 3.71 ERA.
The last team that I want to highlight is a team that seems to be coming out of the woodworks recently but seems to be the least likely is the San Diego Padres. Like the Mets the draws are the same as the as their starting rotation is now a thing of beauty. They have gone out and got two big names being Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, if they were to somehow have enough money to sign Bauer the Padres would have a Cy Young runner-up and 2 Cy Young winners, add into that young stud Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevenger, this would be a line up to be fair in the National League and would finally rival their big bother the Dodgers in Los Angeles, they also have the offense to help said starters and let them rest when the game gets to the late stages. I really just need to say the names for it to all make sense.
K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune
Manny Machado, Trent Grisham, and Fernando Tatis Jr. make a three-headed monster that struck fear into many in the baseball world. Also getting Bauer this offseason would add more vets into a good rotation and add another proven winner to a Padres squad that is one hundred percent pushing for a World Series this season.
For most analysts and fans, while we have not heard anything official from any teams or Bauer’s agent Rachel Lupa these three teams seem to make up the Bauer sweepstakes at the moment, Bauer even possibly dropping hints online in his YouTube videos Facetiming fans from San Diego and Los Angles so far.
Trevor Bauer: “Hope to see you guys in Anaheim at some point in the future” #BauerToAnaheim pic.twitter.com/vkBTmrJSau
— Jake Discher (@jakedischer) January 2, 2021
As for me I think Bauer’s best fit is with the Los Angeles Angles because they are in the most need of a proven winner and a little extra help in the starting rotation that does not really feature any big time guys, though that may not be what the Angels front office looking for, the true baseball fan in me wants to see Bauer in San Diego, because even with Snell and Darvish on the rotation, I think Bauer could be the player that finally puts that team over the edge and helps them edge out the rest of the National League to make the playoffs.
Joe Walls can be reached at joseph.walls@student.shu.edu.
