RADIO.COM MLB Insider Jon Heyman passed along a seemingly uncontroversial nugget Friday afternoon, saying that the Cincinnati Reds, who employed Trevor Bauer for his National League Cy Young Award campaign in 2020, find his price in free agency to be too high and won't ultimately re-sign him.
Given that the Reds non-tendered Archie Bradley, traded Raisel Iglesias in a team-unfriendly deal to the Los Angeles Angels and are reportedly willing to listen to trade offers for Sonny Gray, Heyman's reporting more than checks out.
Bauer, who will turn 30 next month, took to Twitter, not to dispute the validity of Heyman's reporting, but suggest it was "fake news" simply because it didn't come from his agent:
At the outset of the offseason, Bauer did say that all updates would be put forward by his agent, Rachel Luba. Of course, the goals of an agent and an insider are entirely different. Is Luba going to publicly announce that the Reds have all-but bowed out of the Bauer sweepstakes because they are cutting costs this winter? Probably not. But if that's the truth, then the public deserves to know it, which is Heyman's job.
Heyman went on to respond to Bauer, who accused him of reporting something seen as likely as a fact:
Ultimately, though, Heyman got the last word in, saying "I know enough about many of them to know they can’t afford you. I could expand that list to two-thirds of the teams if you like but the Reds are the newsworthy ones since it’s your most recent team. If you sign with the Reds you are welcome to get back to me."
We're willing to bet that Bauer won't be getting back to Heyman, because there's next-to-no chance he returns to Cincinnati.
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