Trevor Bauer, free agent pitcher, has offered to pitch for league minimum plus incentives. And most teams will gladly pay those incentives, because if Bauer is hitting those incentives, more than likely the team he is pitching for is winning.

Yes, that Trevor Bauer, the one who was suspended by MLB for 2 years for domestic violence and sexual assault. His time has been served. His suspension has been completed. His debt has been paid.

After being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bauer spent 2023 with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan, where he went 11-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 156 2/3 innings. Bauer is 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in parts of 10 MLB seasons. Bauer has very solid numbers across the board throughout his career. Let’s be clear here, not signing Bauer is not about “saving money.”

The Yankees may not want the negative publicity that may come by having Bauer in the clubhouse or possibly they feel the in-house options are “good enough.”

The History of Bauer and Cole

Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole do not get along, they have this “beef” going since their college playing days at UCLA. While playing for the Bruins, both were great pitchers. Bauer actually had a better stat line with a 34-8 record and 2.36 ERA with 15 complete games under his belt. It is not like Cole’s stats were awful with his 21-10 record and a 3.38 ERA with 5 complete games.

Gerrit Cole was quoted, actually more like insulted, Trevor Bauer by saying “you’ll never make it in the big leagues.” Gerrit Cole did not approve of Bauer’s work ethic or attitude towards the game. Cole also was skeptical of Bauer as a student as he didn’t do the normal college kid lifestyle like partying and spending time with friends or girls. Cole met his life partner at UCLA, whereas Bauer was an outsider and a loner.

While Bauer had a leg up on Cole in the stats department of the game, Gerrit Cole was selected 1st in the MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Trevor Bauer selected at a respectable 3rd by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bauer was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Cleveland Indians. Rumor had it that the D-Backs didn’t really appreciate Bauer’s worth ethic and his 300 foot “long-toss” that he would do as a pregame warm-up.

Was jealousy the root cause for their “beef?” Trevor Bauer outed Cole in the “sticky stuff” controversy. What Cole had done to his spin rate was incredible. In 2017, his last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he had an average rpm on his 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs of 2149.

Once traded to the Astros, it magically increased to 2326 rpm. Not to be outdone, Bauer later found himself in the same situation then pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in 2020. Bauer’s fastball was registering 2,410 RPM it kicked up to 2,779 rpm, on his way to the National League Cy Young Award. That season he had his lowest ERA of his career at 1.73. He had even more eye-opening stats with 2 complete games and a 100 to 17 K/BB ratio. I am not sure what Bauer was jealous of when in fact he won a Cy Young award before Cole and had electric stuff on the mound and had a promising career till he found himself in trouble with the sex scandal.

So what is the actual state of the Yankees and their chances of winning a title in 2024? It remains a mystery from current owner Hal Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman all the way down to manager Aaron Boone. Fans, you have 162 games to endure what could be World Series #28 or another missed opportunity. My question is would they be closer to #28 if they endured the controversy, forced Bauer and Cole to play nice with each other and carry the rest of the team on their collective shoulders? If Cole can keep his healthy.

What do you want the Yankees to do? Let us know in the comments below.

By Rob Henderson

Photo Credit; AP News, The Athletic, X.com

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