Trevor Bauer willing to sign for league minimum salary
Trevor Bauer inside the locker room at spring training. Photo Credit: Bobby Nightengale/Cincinnati Enquirer
Trevor Bauer is pitching his services to MLB teams for a potential bargain price.
Gary Sheffield Jr. shared a post on X Wednesday arguing that teams should be “jumping on” the opportunity to sign Bauer, who is willing to play for a cheap price.
In my opinion, teams should be jumping on this opportunity. And he’s already addressed the feud with Gerrit Cole that didn’t exist.
If Marcus Stroman had something to prove and was awarded an opportunity, why can’t Bauer? Low risk potentially astronomical reward.
— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) February 7, 2024
The post caught Bauer’s eye, and he responded.
“Blake Snell is going to get hundreds of millions of dollars on a multi year deal. And he should. He deserves it. For a team that doesn’t want to commit multi years, hundreds of millions of dollars, or many elite prospects for a Cy young award winner, they could sign me for league minimum and pay 0 incremental dollars over what they have to pay to that roster spot anyway. Just another option for teams that want to win and don’t want to break the bank,” Bauer wrote on X.
Blake Snell is going to get hundreds of millions of dollars on a multi year deal. And he should. He deserves it. For a team that doesn’t want to commit multi years, hundreds of millions of dollars, or many elite prospects for a Cy young award winner, they could sign me for league… https://t.co/OA1Xu7uHAT
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) February 7, 2024
Getting Bauer on a league minimum base salary with an incentive-based contract would be tremendous for a team.
Over his last two seasons in MLB, Bauer went 13-9 with a 2.24 ERA in 28 starts and struck out 237 batters in 180.2 innings. He won the NL Cy Young Award in the shortened 2020 season thanks to his 1.73 ERA. He was still sharp in Japan last year despite not having pitched for nearly two years.
The problem teams likely are concerned about with Bauer is the potential blowback they would receive from fans and the media upon signing him due to his past legal issues. Teams also might be concerned about new allegations popping up after they have signed the 33-year-old. If a team were willing to take on those risks, they would likely be getting a bargain of a pitcher.