In the Saturday, January 23 New York Post, there was an article by Ken Davidoff, whose headline proclaimed “Trevor Bauer’s dark social media episode should disqualify him from the Mets.” The incident in question involved a January 2019 twitter argument with a female college student. Bauer apparently posted publicly available photos of the student consuming alcohol before her 21st birthday, presumably as a way of questioning her judgement. Subsequently Bauer apologized to the student, who apparently never denied drinking the alcohol.
Davidoff then went off the rails, comparing this incident to the recent scandal In which since fired Mets GM sent unwanted graphic photos of his anatomy to a female sportswriter. This seems like a classic oranges and apples comparison. Sending unsolicited pornographic images of oneself to a female acquaintance seems a lot more serious than using public information to question an antagonist’s credibility.
Davidoff further conceded that he had supported the Mets decision to bring back Jose Reyes in 2016 after he had served a 51-game suspension from the Rockies due to a domestic violence situation in which Reyes had grabbed his wife by the throat and shoved her into a glass door causing injuries. The case was dropped by the DA after the victim declined to cooperate with the prosecution. This too seems a lot worse than Bauer’s sin of engaging in a petty feud via Twitter.
The Mets have had other questionable signings in recent years, in which no one seemed to be too upset about. In 2016 Mets reliever Jeurys Familia was involved in a domestic violence accusation in which he accepted a 15 game suspension. Familia was later traded to Oakland in 2018 before being re-signed at the end of the season to a contract with the Mets that will run through the 2021 season.
Perhaps the most questionable signing of all by the Mets in recent years was the July 2020 inking of catcher Bruce Maxwell to a minor league deal. In 2017 a young female pizza delivery person brought an order to Maxwell’s Arizona apartment. Maxwell claimed that he had canceled the order, although company records show otherwise. The delivery driver alleged Maxwell had held a gun to her head, She then called the police, who noticed a strong odor of liquor on Maxwell’s breath. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Maxwell eventually pled guilty to a lesser charge, disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to two years’ probation.
It would seem all the players cited above committed far more serious transgressions than Bauer and his “dark social media episode” as Davidoff characterized it. Yet there was no groundswell of opposition by fans or the media to those other signings. By the way, few of these signings have provided much value to the Mets.
Reyes probably did provide a little spark to the 2016 wild card game loser, but by his last season in 2018, Reyes was arguably among the worst players in MLB. In 110 games he assembled a slash line of .189/.260/.320.
Familia, whose contract is worth $30 million over three years, has provided -.02 fWar and -.01 fWar in the first two years of the contract. Maxwell’s most recent year in the Majors, 2018 for Oakland, was abysmal. His line was .182/.207/.309. He has yet to play an inning for the Mets.
Bauer would bring a huge upgrade to a Mets rotation that is short on depth. He of course won the NL Cy Young while pitching for the Reds in 2020. His ERA was 1.73, and his WHIP figure was a microscopic 0.79. Opposition batters hit only .159 against him. He sure would look good slotting in behind Jacob deGrom in the Mets 2021 rotation.
Bauer may be thin-skinned and argumentative, but he surely would improve the Mets starting pitching.
John, that Twitter episode raises a different kind of red flag on Bauer. If he was so offended by a 21 year old that he went off the rails, how is he going to feel about all the beat reporters in NYC constantly asking him ‘what’s wrong’ if he has a bad stretch? Or, how about Vinny from Queens constantly Tweeting him that “his brand” sucks? He comes across to me as a bit of a baby and that bothers me. Hard to believe that a person that has gotten so much limelight and should be familiar with it is still doing willing to exert energy arguing with people on Twitter. I don’t necessarily expect him to do it again but it makes me question his sensitivity.
Then there is the question of his worth. He thinks that he should be paid more than any other pitcher in AAV. To me that’s ludicrous. His numbers are good, but only good. You give him 2/$70MM and what does Syndergaard want? What about Stroman? I don’t bother with this guy and let him learn the Kyle Lohse and Dallas Keuchel lesson.
He’s different, Gus, and maybe even quirky, but do we really want a team consisting of conformists? Some diversity in thinking is a good thing in my opinion
I know it’s only 11 starts in 2020, but I love that Bauer’s numbers went up so dramatically. His SO/9 went up to 12.3 (previous high was 11.3); his BB/9 down to 2.1 (previous best was 2.9), and his WHIP fell to 0.795 (2nd best was 1.089). That WHIP is better than any that Sandy Koufax or Jacob deGrom achieved.
It very well could be that (like so many other players) he figured out things and that this will continue.
And his past record (throwing out his first 10 starts in Cincy, after he was traded midyear) is good too, with improvement in ERA+ to 196 in 2018).
I wouldn’t sign him at age 30 for a super long-term deal, but how about 2 years/$78 million or even 5 years/$175 million?
As for his “encounter” with the college student? No big deal in my opinion. And he did apologize.
I’m not sure we really need Bauer but we sure could use a true centerfielder.
Is it an apples to oranges comparison but it does expose a lack of maturity. It isn’t the only incident. He throw a baseball over the outfield fence instead of hand it over to Terry Franconia showing a lack of respect and authority. There are others.
He is a good pitcher but lack the resume to command a $30M+ salary. His incidents and attitude should command no salary from the Mets.
I think he wants too much money for having a great 60 game stretch. He wants to “partner” with a team to build his brand. Dont like it. Feels like a Kardashian wannabe. Signing Bauer really ties us up. Would rather have Taijuan Walker and another relief pitcher.
Great points, all. I do not want him on this staff making more than Jake. His pitching resume does not warrant that.
I am not one to pontificate about how good or bad a person he is, but I am a huge believer in clubhouse chemistry. . . see Bryce Harper. Because of some of the past incidents (throwing the ball over the wall), I kind of wonder if he is a plus or a minus for the team. Will his whining about pitching every 4 days stop? That is a distraction from the get-go.
I like the Dallas Keuchel reference – a good pitcher for a couple years that has not sustained it.
I really hope they do not push themselves over the cap with this one signing. Walker, relief pitcher (Doolittle for the lefty? Wilson ? McGee?), and even JBJ will cost a lot less and deliver more.
I 100% agree, R69. IMHO, the Mets are building an effective and appealing chemistry, driven by Dom, Pete, McNeil, Nimmo, Conforto, and Davis. The pitching staff has a different culture, it seems, but also upbeat, driven by Noah and Stro. JDG seems to be a quiet kind of leader. There do not appear to be any prima donnas on the team and the atmosphere would seem to be unaccepting of one. Bauer seems most interesting in building his own brand that isn’t based on solely on what he does on the field. I think he’d be a disruptive force on the team just based on that. Add in that he’s going to be remarkably overpaid (not his fault, btw) and that his politics seem to be out-of-step with this team and owner and IMHO he has a tremendous amount of downside. Other pitchers are available who have less risk and who admittedly have less upside. That’s OK. While we’re at it, I don’t like the idea of Bradley, Jr. Seems like we already have that with Jake M. As for a lefty reliever, what’s wrong with Wilson? Jake M and Wilson are known quantities and affordable. The move on the table (per media) is Wong (then move McNeil to third and JD to utility and pinch hitting. That one I’d like to see. On all of these others, doing nothing is better.
By the way, does anyone have a guess about what happens to Cespedes? Is he healed and training? Surely someone is going to take a flyer on him, and it seems to me that he’d be worth a low salary. Maybe not on the Mets, but I bet some team signs him with great returns.
Hi Bull. Say hi to Greg Abbott for me.
While everyone is unimpressed by Bradley, Almora, and Pillar, one thing they can do is play center and hold their own. With someone in the middle of the outfield that can do that, Nimmo missing time is catastrophic. It appears that Bradley is merely “the best of the rest” after Springer.
I think Cespedes has burned his bridges with the Mets
or Tanaka at 60% of the money with a shorter term and a relief pitcher….. and then some.
Less concerned about his social media presence than I am with the money being discussed. I know it’s not my money, but in no world is Trevor Bauer worth more annually than Gerrit Cole. or DeGrom for that matter. I honestly feel like the rotation is ok at the moment, with some depth, the bullpen with Lugo back in it will be solid, and the lineup as constructed without the DH is one of the best in the NL. They need a stronger bench in my opinion, another reliever, and some additional minor league 40 man roster work. If handing out 30 million to Bauer prevents other long term considerations like extending Lindor and/or Conforto, count me out. If they can do all of those things because Steve Cohen has monopoly money, than fine I guess.
I agree with most of the comments here, in that my main issue is that I don’t believe Bauer should be the highest paid player or pitcher in baseball. His track record is one Cy Young season in an 11 start sample against a group skewed towards weak hitting teams. No way does that justify his ask.
^
+1
“In business as in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”
In his last three years, Bauer has put up the following fWAR numbers:
5.8
3.3
2.5 (pro-rates to a 6.8 for a full-season)
If Wheeler’s rep is able to negotiate a 5/$118 deal – shouldn’t Bauer get more?
Hi! Can you give us a site that will provide Zach Wheeler’s fWAR stats?
Thanks!
fWAR is the FanGraphs’ version of WAR. Here’s the link to Wheeler’s FG page — https://www.fangraphs.com/players/zack-wheeler/10310/stats?position=P
Thanks. I was looking for “fWAR” on that site.
Good point about salaries. Of course, BVW/the Wilpons should have signed Wheeler for that. At $8 million/WAR, Wheeler might have been “worth” $37 million/year or so (based on his 4.7 fWAR in 2019). So, that would be a 5/$185 million deal.
So, my proposals in my above post of 2 years/$78 million or 5 years/$175 million for Bauer seems in line with what he is “worth” (with his 11.6 fWAR over in the last 3 years—vs. Wheeler’s 10.9).
Bauer was trolling Mets fans all winter on his YouTube channel.
Can’t say I feel the loss too acutely.
Because no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to like someone who denies science, especially those climatology types.
I have great respect for that awesome branch of applied math called Non-Linear Dynamics
José
Yeah, them climatology types employ Non-Linear Dynamics (solving systems of non-linear differential equations) along with increasingly sophisticated computer modeling. Ya know, because when the equations are non-linear, you can’t use simple matrices (that is, those with scalar entries) which can easily be solved completely using the methods of introductory Linear Algebra.
Non-Linear Dynamics leads nicely into the ever-so-hot subject called Chaos Theory. And it is one of the few kinds of applied mathematics that I admire greatly (I’m much more the theoretical/abstract type of math dude). And best of all, the kinkiness of Non-Linear Dynamics is rather limited