The Pirates 2024 season is here and there is hope and optimism the team will build on last year’s foundation.
If players like Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, Henry Davis and Ke’Bryan Hayes live up to their potential behind the plate, the Bucs could be fighting for a division that isn’t expected to be strong this season.
One of the weaknesses of this year’s club though appears to be the starting rotation.
Paul Skenes isn’t expected to make his Major League debut until later this season and Bailey Falter is one of the team’s starters.
Falter went 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA in six spring games.
One name that many fans have been asking for and wondering why he isn’t signed is Trevor Bauer.
The 33-year-old is looking to return to baseball after he was suspended by the MLB for 324 after he was accused of domestic abuse and sexual assault by a woman in 2021.
That suspension was reduced late in 2022, allowing him to try to find a team to sign him.
With no teams interested, he pitched the 2023 season in Japan.
You can’t blame Pirates ownership for the lack of Bauer on the roster.
According to PM Team’s Andrew Fillipponi, Pirates ownership let baseball ops look into Bauer but they obviously didn’t sign him.
The Pirates aren’t the only team that hasn’t signed him though. No other team has signed him.
Bauer has also been deemed a pariah by many in baseball.
TV Host Britt McHenry posted this explosive message on X (formally Twitter).
Since Pirate baseball operations were allowed to look into Bauer, it doesn’t appear to be a quiet, league-wide ban to not sign him, but no one wants to take the chance.
Even fringe playoff teams that need a pitcher, not just the Pirates.
That should tell you something.