The Dodgers Continue Their Winning Ways, Sign Trevor Bauer
Photo: Tim Fuller - USA Today SportsThe wait is over after more than three months of mystery. The top ranked free agent on our Free Agency Tracker, Trevor Bauer, has found a home. He reportedly agreed to a 3-year deal worth $102 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers, confirmed by Bauer on his Momentum platform. The move comes as a slight surprise after rumors of Bauer and the New York Mets grew strong into last night, but the Dodgers constantly remained in the conversation.
After winning the Cy Young Award with the Reds in 2020, Bauer was due for a pay day in free agency. He originally suggested that his future free agency plan would be to limit himself to one-year deals in an attempt to play for all thirty major league teams and strictly be paid for his present value. He even went as far as granting a friend permission to shoot him in the groin with a paintball gun if he ever signs a multi-year contract. Well, it seems Bauer’s friend might not get to pull the trigger. Given the success Bauer had last season, there stood little chance for him to make a big splash like this again in free agency, so a multi-year deal must have seemed overwhelmingly appealing to Bauer and his agent, Rachel Luba. Instead, Bauer’s three-year deal with Los Angeles includes opt-outs after each of the first two seasons. He will earn $40 million in the first season and $45 million in the second season if he opts in. The contract pushes the Dodgers over the typically dreaded Competitive Balance Tax (luxury tax) threshold just one season after winning the 2020 World Series with an untaxed payroll.
The Dodgers are in the midst of an arms race in the NL West. The San Diego Padres traded for former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and former Dodgers’ starter Yu Darvish over a two-day span in December. I called the Padres’ rotation the best in baseball at the time. San Diego even added depth by acquiring Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh in January. Now, the Dodgers have certainly earned the right to call themselves the best starting rotation in the major leagues.
Bauer will join a Dodgers rotation packed with talent. Ace Clayton Kershaw remains the face of the pitching staff, but Walker Buehler, David Price, and Dustin May round out what will be an impressive group in 2021. The Dodgers have depth pieces too, with lefty Julio Urias remaining a possibility to start games. Veteran starter Tony Gonsolin can serve as a viable back-of-the-rotation starter and has experience starting in the Postseason, including World Series games. Ultimately, the Dodgers’ pitching staff will rival the Padres out west for not only the best rotation in the division, but also the best in all of the major leagues.
Bauer himself has been extremely effective in recent years. Two of his past three seasons brought ace-level production to the back of his baseball card. Bauer produced a 2.21 ERA in 175.1 innings across 27 starts in his 2018 All-Star season. In 2019, he recorded a 3.79 ERA in 24 starts for Cleveland, but was traded at the deadline to Cincinnati where his ERA ballooned (to 4.48 for the season) in 10 starts. If there were any concerns about Bauer being able to pitch in the hitter’s park that is Great American Ballpark after 2019, he put them to rest in 2020. Bauer took home the National League Cy Young Award in the shortened season, completing 2 shutouts and finishing with a 1.73 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 12.3 K/9.
Approaching his age-30 season in 2021, Bauer will be the highest paid pitcher in baseball for the season. There is no reason to expect a sharp decline within the three years provided for in his contract. With that, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ offseason is all but complete, and all signs indicate that late October baseball will be played in Los Angeles this year.