The Los Angeles Dodgers ultimately beat out the New York Mets in the Trevor Bauer sweepstakes. At one point, however, it was apparently the Mets who thought they had finished the job and landed the reigning NL Cy Young winner.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets believed they had reached an agreement with Bauer before the Dodgers swooped in and closed the deal. The organization felt that both sides had approved the terms of the deal and were working with one of Bauer’s agents to settle what they felt were the final details of the contract.
Furthermore, a source told Sherman that Mets president Sandy Alderson felt he had never reached the point of negotiations he did with Bauer without closing a deal.
Even as the Mets felt they were closing the deal, the Dodgers sensed opportunity. They felt that they were close to matching the Mets’ three-year, $105 million offer, and also got the sense that Bauer would rather play in Los Angeles than New York. That helped push the Dodgers toward moving in at the last minute and sealing the deal, leaving the Mets empty-handed.
Most of the rumors in the day or two before Bauer signed linked him to the Mets, not the Dodgers. This makes it even clearer that the Mets thought they had Bauer, and are genuinely surprised to have lost out at the last moment.
