Any MLB team would love Trevor Bauer's talent and tenacity on the mound. That is part of what makes the pitcher so powerful, and helped him bag the NL Cy Young last year.
Teams may not be so charmed by Bauer's eccentric and electric personality away from the mound, however – but if the chatty and emotionally charged ace would fit anywhere, it feels like New York City has copious room for his quirks.
Where Bauer could turn off even the best-heeled teams is the report that he's looking for a six-year deal for about $200 million. You need not be the cash-strapped Athletics to wince at those numbers. Bauer has since dismissed Jon Heyman's report and derided him for posting it, but would you be shocked to hear that he or his agent have quietly pursued that kind of quid?
This is where Bauer can overplay his hand. While the hot stove doesn't feature many top-flight starting pitchers - Bauer is just about it, really - that doesn't mean teams will be strong-armed into overpaying Bauer based largely on one season. Bauer's 1.73 ERA was by far his best, and it came during the truncated, 60-game season - the smallest sample-size a Cy Young winner has ever needed.
His career 3.90 ERA is more than double his briefly brilliant 2020 season.
The most games Bauer has ever won is 17, and that came in 2017. He's never won more than 12 games in any other summer over his career. He's only reached one All-Star Game (in '17). Before last year, he never led either league in any salient stat. And he turns 30 in a few weeks. Even with his sparkling Cy Young season in Cincinnati, Bauer is 7-9 with a 3.76 ERA in two years with the Reds.
According to NJ.com, the Yanks want no part of Bauer. Surely the potential cash makes the suddenly cap-conscious Bombers cringe, but it also seems Bauer has been far from a BFF with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Bauer's chest-out persona can rub some folks the wrong way.
So that leaves the Mets as the Big Apple's only potential suitors. While Steve Cohen, the new team owner with the wide wallet, gives the Mets big-market gravitas, he doesn't want to start his tenure by burying the team with bloated contracts that would choke the payroll for more years than Bauer is worth. If Bauer wanted, say, four years at $100 million, that's a deal the Mets can sell their fans, planting a new ace behind their own in Jacob deGrom. Lord knows it would do wonders for the rotation's depth, and is an exponential upgrade from last year's group that included Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello. And this way the Mets aren't devastated if (or when) Noah Syndergaard suffers a setback in Tommy John rehab, or another injury to further hamstring a most promising career.
So while money matters, the Mets must also care where they spend it. Bauer would be a long-term investment for what's likely a short-term return. Better they beef up their lineup with free agents George Springer or DJ LeMahieu, or both.
Or, depending on their conviction, they can move up in line among all the teams drooling over Cleveland's Francisco Lindor and trade for the four-time All-Star shortstop, who is just 27 years old.
Cohen is correct if he feels the fans expect a maiden and major splash that comes with being the richest owner in the sport. Fans already adore Cohen because he's already expressed more youthful affection for the Mets than the Wilpons did in decades, and he also talks like someone who plans to win soon. While some smaller markets may hate the hubris, Cohen is cut largely from our cloth - a fan who just happens to be a billionaire and was able to live out a dream when he bought the Mets.
Now it's time to produce. Even in this winter of global discontent, there are still people in high-financial orbits making major moves. Most of them happen well beyond our world, and are reserved for the soft-talking, soporific business TV networks. In Cohen's case, we will be watching, recording, and reminding him of it after every deal. While the rest of us are broke, Cohen can remind fans that the Mets are more than solvent while solving some acute roster problems.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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