Former Cy Young Winner Makes Wild Claim on "X" as He Remains Unsigned

Trevor Bauer, who remains a free agent and pitching in the Mexican League, made a wild claim on "X" about the state of major league rotations and how much better he is than current major league pitchers.

Jun 12, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Trevor Bauer (27) / Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Trevor Bauer, the embattled former Cy Young winner who remains unsigned and pitching in the Mexican League right now, made a wild claim on "X" on Monday night about the state of major league rotations and how measures up to them.

Per Bauer on "X:"

There’s not a single mlb team out there that has 3 starters better than me. Let alone 5. And I’m as cheap or cheaper than any of them since I’m willing to play for the minimum. And even though I have the support of players, coaches, fans, managers, and gms league wide, every time they go to the owner to sign me they’re told no. Makes you wonder who is telling all the owners not to sign me

There’s not a single mlb team out there that has 3 starters better than me. Let alone 5. And I’m as cheap or cheaper than any of them since I’m willing to play for the minimum. And even though I have the support of players, coaches, fans, managers, and gms league wide, every time…

— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) May 13, 2024

First off, let's sift through Bauer's situation:

The 33-year-old Bauer clearly still has the stuff to pitch in the major leagues, but he's also clearly being kept out. He was suspended in 2021 over a domestic violence allegation and ended up missing 182 games in total between 2021 and 2022. Teams likely don't want to take the PR hit on signing him, despite the fact that he was never charged with a crime and the credibility of some of his accusers has come into question.

Not everything that Bauer said is wrong. He undoubtedly does have supporters in baseball and likely there are teams that want to sign him, but are being prevented by owners or fear of bad press. He's also not wrong to say that he would cheaper than most pitchers in baseball because he has already said he's willing to play for the league minimum.

Where Bauer's claim gets wild is that he says there isn't a single team with three starting pitchers better than him. It may be true that not every staff has a Cy Young winner like he is, but I think it's fair to say that the Seattle Mariners (Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Luis Castillo) have three starters better than this current version of Bauer.

The Blue Jays, with Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi probably factor into the mix, as might the New York Yankees-led Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman staff.

Furthermore, injuries always complicate things, but if you add Joe Musgrove back to the Padres rotation with Michael King and Dylan Cease, you may find three starters better there. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Walker Buehler likely also make the Dodgers better also. A healthy Gerrit Cole definitely puts the Yankees over the Bauer threshold.

You get the point.

Bauer is still an excellent pitcher and has a great resume, but he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2021 and spent 2023 playing in Japan and this year in Mexico. At this point, his assertion of where he's at in comparison to other top arms is just off.

Bauer has spent parts of 10 years in the big leagues with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Dodgers. He won the Cy Young with the Reds in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Lifetime, he's 83-79 with a 3.79 ERA.

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