This is the rare time when the Mets struck out and are better off for it.
Forget that brief beef between reporters, about whether Trevor Bauer would land on the East or West Coast. If we look through a clear lens, it's a good thing the eccentric starting pitcher spurned the Mets for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he has never gone this deep into talks with a player without signing him. But the Dodgers swept in, with the better weather, prettier places, and oil drums filled with cash. Mark Feinsand and MLB.com report Bauer will be the highest-paid player in baseball history over the next two years, making $40 million in 2021 and $45 million in 2022. For his part, Bauer apologized to Mets fans for basically bolting on them at the altar.
But maybe the Mets should be thanking the hard-throwing and bold-talking hurler. Sure, they missed out on last year's NL Cy Young winner, but he only made 11 starts – essentially one-third of a season – and his 1.73 ERA is a far cry from his career 3.90 ERA. He has pitched nine seasons and made one All-Star team, and will make $40 million in his age-30 season after compiling a career 75-64 record with an ERA just under four. So, this huffing and puffing to sign a good pitcher who had a great 11 starts last year is a bit misguided.
And plenty of us were guilty of it. We were hypnotized by the clever but meaningless tagline that says the Mets have the last three Cy Young winners in their rotation, but Jacob deGrom is so much better than Bauer it's unfair to fit them in the same sentence, if not the same thought. But since pitching is so essential, we let our minds run wild with what's possible, rather than what's proven.
Before last year, no one was talking about Bauer as the ace any team needed to nudge them over the top. The Dodgers have so much money that they can afford to overpay for Bauer and not go bust if he's a bust, and they’re playing with all the house money they just won with their first World Series title since 1988.
The Mets don't have those luxuries. They are in just as big a market, but need time to coalesce, and they’ve done plenty this winter, plucking plenty of good logs from the hot stove season. And the Mets also have to worry about appearances; Bauer may not be a bad guy, but he loves to walk and talk on the edge. Indeed, the Guardian posted a profile in 2019 with the title, "Why Is Trevor Bauer MLB's Most Hated Man?"
This sort of thing matters to the Mets, who just had to fire GM Jared Porter just 37 days into his tenure for making lewd advances toward a female reporter in the past. Then we discover that former manager Mickey Callaway has been suspended by the Angels pending an investigation that he, too, made unwanted advances towards many women over a number of years, including during his time with the Mets.
Not that the Mets need choir boys or boy scouts, but they don't need to empty the vault and pay historic money for a good but mercurial pitcher who had one great (half) season. There may be some short-term regret now, but they just avoided some long-term agony.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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