Mets’ charge at Trevor Bauer makes Dodgers’ decision a lot easier

Once upon a time Dodgers fans thought Trevor Bauer could be had at a decent price.

Trevor Bauer‘s market has seemingly done a 180 over the last year. First, he was willing to take one-year deals and hop around the league. Now, according to reports, he wants the highest AAV in Major League Baseball. Perhaps that’s all you need to know about the guy.

And good thing the New York Mets are now reportedly making a serious run at the right-hander, because it makes the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ decision a lot easier. Remember last week when it was said LA was monitoring Bauer’s market in hopes they could land him if the price was right?

Well, the price is WRONG, Bob! Even though the Dodgers could theoretically do it, there’s zero reason to pay Bauer Gerrit Cole money … when they didn’t even bid that high for Gerrit Cole after the 2019 season.

And, to be honest, even if the price was anywhere near that, Bauer isn’t worth it. Forget about his off-field concerns, since apparently that wasn’t enough for fans to understand why he’d be a risk to acquire. His on-field performance isn’t even that great, and it’s certainly not a good idea to get in a high-scale bidding war over a guy with a career 3.90 ERA.

He’s had TWO seasons (well, 1-1/3 if we’re to appropriately scale out the entire 2020 campaign) with an ERA under 4.18. He’s trying to ride the way of his 11-start Cy Young campaign, but only a front office full of bonafide suckers would accept that as appropriate leverage. Most of those outings came against the league’s worst offenses in Detroit, Kansas City, Chicago (Cubs), Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.

Throw Bauer out there for 22 more starts and he doesn’t come close to maintaining a 1.73 ERA and 0.80 WHIP.

Additionally, Bauer really has only had a stretch of 39 career games in which he’s been exceptional. That’s … 19% of his career. Some would argue Cole wasn’t an ace for a good portion of his career before his record-setting deal, but at least he had three full seasons (30 or more starts) that were Cy Young-caliber out of his seven at the time.

Bauer has yet to have an impressive 30-start stretch in his nine-year career.

Instead, he’s more known for throwing a ball over the center field wall at Kauffman Stadium because he was upset about being taken out of the game as well as busting up his hand with a drone during the Indians’ 2016 World Series run, which no doubt hurt Cleveland’s chances.

Let the Mets do all the bidding they want. If the price is anywhere near Cole’s AAV, the Dodgers will enjoy the current cast of dominant starters they possess at the moment.

Dodgers should avoid Trevor Bauer as allegations mount

The Los Angeles Dodgers should've known who Trevor Bauer is all along, but as the public pressure mounts, they shouldn't add an unnecessary distraction.