Trevor Bauer

[Parfigliano]

23 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

He wore out his welcome in Arizona, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. I’m sure Cincinnati Reds players weren’t sad to see him leave either. Someone’s going to pick him up unfortunately. We see all the time in sports that talent trumps character issues. 

When someone shows/tells you who they are its best to believe them.  He has been devisive every where he has been.  Dont need that problem. 

[bap3141]

Too many questions with Bauer.  If you can get past all the other "stuff", his resume is still wildly inconsistent.  Do you get the 4.50 ERA guy, the 6.4 ERA guy with the Reds in 2019, or the Cy Young pitcher of 2020? 

If there weren't clubhouse concerns, a history of poor sportsmanship, and questions about how legitimate his successful seasons were (sticky stuff), then maybe you could take a chance on him.  But with all of that, and the up and down performance and the fact that he's a PR nightmare, well... the Twins aren't THAT desperate, are they? 

And, of course, he hasn't pitched professional ball for almost 2 seasons now.   

[Anthony123]

Totally take a chance on him. The twins rarely go after anyone with his caliber. Frankly I am so irritated that the twins can't bolster there pitching really Ever with someone that has his velocity and nasty stuff. Twins will never compete unless they can get an arm or two.

[DJL44]

Someone should sign him, but not the Twins. He would draw national attention for all the wrong reasons.

People can change, especially when met with public disapproval of their actions. 

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

Someone should sign him, but not the Twins. He would draw national attention for all the wrong reasons.

People can change, especially when met with public disapproval of their actions. 

 

I agree with the “People can change” part. If societally we don’t give people a chance to prove that they did change, then justice is never really served. 
 

How does that fit with the first part. If I’m not an agent for change, then who will be?

this fits really well with my struggle on my reaction post in this thread. “No not ever and if the Twins do, I’m becoming a brewers fan”. I have conflicting morals. I cannot ever tolerate abuse. I also feel strongly that justice includes rehabilitation. I admit that it doesn’t really make sense, and is a bit hypocritical.
 

Where I come down on this, is Trevor Bauer has earned enough money in his life, if he was prudent, he can live the rest of his life, without ever working again, and still die with more money than I’ll ever have.

he’s rich beyond my comprehension and can afford to live on his own island.

so my initial post stands. Not Trevor Bauer, not ever.

[Original_JB]

40 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

I agree with the “People can change” part. If societally we don’t give people a chance to prove that they did change, then justice is never really served. 
 

How does that fit with the first part. If I’m not an agent for change, then who will be?

this fits really well with my struggle on my reaction post in this thread. “No not ever and if the Twins do, I’m becoming a brewers fan”. I have conflicting morals. I cannot ever tolerate abuse. I also feel strongly that justice includes rehabilitation. I admit that it doesn’t really make sense, and is a bit hypocritical.
 

Where I come down on this, is Trevor Bauer has earned enough money in his life, if he was prudent, he can live the rest of his life, without ever working again, and still die with more money than I’ll ever have.

he’s rich beyond my comprehension and can afford to live on his own island.

so my initial post stands. Not Trevor Bauer, not ever.

Not quite the same thing, but the Wild are on my sh*tlist that way for acquiring Ryan Reaves. Which is odd, as I didn't really get that worked up when they got Cooke, but he did seem to have cleaned up his act a bit at that point.  Reaves..... ahh, I don't know, it's like he's deliberately playing the edge of legality, trying to bait someone into swinging at him, and outside of playing a brick wall, all he's for is to protect KK. But I just don't like it, just like that wet rat Marchand, but at least he has hockey skills.

[tony&rodney]

The professional baseball career of Trevor Bauer has likely ended. He has had a troubled existence as chronicled by many throughout his time from UCLA until the latest flare while employed by the Dodgers. Public entities such as the Twins are unlikely to proceed with a case such as Trevor Bauer. That said, I do wish him well on his journey through life. He has enormous wealth to buffet him from many trials. There is hope that he can accomplish positive things with his life as he seems to possess a reasonable intellect. Many people have reconstructed their lives after falling into the pit of despair after making poor choices and/or struggling with addictions of sorts. My belief is that Bauer is finished with MLB. Of course, I may be wrong and I will not question if a team chooses to sign Bauer. I do not wish the Twins to sign Bauer.

An aside - did I see a reference to Colin Kaepernick in the comments? CK was blackballed and successfully sued the NFL for a ton of bread. The NFL admitted wrongdoing and paid up. CK protested racism in a quiet fashion. Trevor Bauer has some serious issues with judgments that endanger people, even if those activities are supposedly consensual. I get that fan bases have strong thoughts and opinions on players but those two should never be compared on any level.

[JesusisLord7]

It is hard to know looking from the outside how bad a situation can be. The Dodgers recently released Trevor Bauer. I wonder if the Minnesota medical community could stabilize this guy? I have no idea. From a baseball only point of view he would be a big upgrade. I'm a person who believes in forgiveness but for a team to take a chance on a guy there would need to be evidence of change and restoration. Not sure on this one, what does everyone else think?

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

1 hour ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

I agree with the “People can change” part. If societally we don’t give people a chance to prove that they did change, then justice is never really served.

...this fits really well with my struggle on my reaction post in this thread. “No not ever and if the Twins do, I’m becoming a brewers fan”. I have conflicting morals. I cannot ever tolerate abuse. I also feel strongly that justice includes rehabilitation. I admit that it doesn’t really make sense, and is a bit hypocritical.

I haven't frequented the threads about Bauer, but opening this one now I was glad to read this (and don't think it's hypocritical.) Yes, rehabilitation after wrongdoing and harm is better than only punishing the wrongdoer. It does more at least to attempt to avoid the same kind of harm in the future.

Unfortunately our society has very little norm of public atonement or rehabilitation for men in positions of power or fame (and yeah, both those things are relative, but at the very least a pro athlete is a public figure with a kind of cultural power.) And almost no norm of public atonement or rehabilitation for sexual abuse and assault.

That lack is particularly insidious for a kind of harm where so often those affected by it experience further effects of secrecy and stigma surrounding it. The less chance of rehabilitation, the less likely a public admission of wrongdoing, the more denial and secrecy continue to flourish instead.

I hope all of this changes on a broader scale. In principle, yes, "people can change...when met with public disapproval of their actions." But so often the standard isn't for disapproval to steer a public figure to change, and the conditions don't encourage it if the person has the option of digging in and vague denial. If Trevor Bauer responds differently, great, but I don't see anything to suggest that he will.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Setting aside the apparent extremely deplorable things he did in his personal life that resulted in him being blackballed (and paid millions not to play by the Dodgers), Bauer has had a pretty interesting career:

1) pioneer in the use of slow-motion, high definition video to improve his pitching to elite levels

2) refusing to play along with the Scott Boras super agents of the world, negotiating his own contract / working with a friend (happened to be female, unusual in those circles) to go year to year for best contract instead of long-term/lower AAV (which has now backfired)

3) called out Gerrit Cole / Astros for cheating on spin rates, including personally demonstrating how easily it could done by spiking his own spin rates during one inning of a game.

He seems to flaunt “doing things his own way” to the point of being insufferable and as a result has made a ton of enemies—teammates, coaches, etc.  He’s very talented and would probably help the Twins, but I’d be very leery about even considering it.  

Again, that’s not even getting into the stuff that has gotten him DFAed by the Dodgers, etc.  All of the personal / awful stuff would ratchet that leeriness towards the Twins getting involved x10.

 

[Brandon]

I think we should trade Enlow to the Dodgers for them to pay all of his contract so if at anytime we decide he’s a cancer in the clubhouse we can cut him and it cost us nothing since Enlow is likely out the door anyway.  This is a chance at a free ace.  Everyone deserves a shot at redemption.  If we can sign Correa and Martin Gonzalez then we can give a short leash to Bauer.

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

I think we should trade Enlow to the Dodgers for them to pay all of his contract so if at anytime we decide he’s a cancer in the clubhouse we can cut him and it cost us nothing since Enlow is likely out the door anyway.  This is a chance at a free ace.  Everyone deserves a shot at redemption.  If we can sign Correa and Martin Gonzalez then we can give a short leash to Bauer.

How many times does he have to act badly without remorse for it to matter to you?

[Brandon]

5 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

How many times does he have to act badly without remorse for it to matter to you?

I don’t know his whole situation,  I haven’t followed it.  But what I do see is an opportunity to trade someone on their way out the door for a free flyer.  For potentially an ace.  Again the trade I proposed is set up for the Twins to be able to cut from without any cost.

 I haven’t heard any remorse from Marwin or Correa either.

[Squirrel]

9 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I don’t know his whole situation,  I haven’t followed it.  But what I do see is an opportunity to trade someone on their way out the door for a free flyer.  For potentially an ace.  Again the trade I proposed is set up for the Twins to be able to cut from without any cost.

 I haven’t heard any remorse from Marwin or Correa either.

Before this goes further, there is a huge difference between what the Astros players did and what Bauer did. While I don’t condone cheating, Bauer’s violent and brutal behavior toward women deserves greater scrutiny and if he wants a second chance, he needs to change his ways. That aside, if you want to discuss the baseball side of things, Bauer hasn’t really been an ace for some time, and hasn’t pitched for a long time. And he is a known ‘bad teammate’ and clubhouse problem. Hard pass.

[Brandon]

10 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Before this goes further, there is a huge difference between what the Astros players did and what Bauer did. While I don’t condone cheating, Bauer’s violent and brutal behavior toward women deserves greater scrutiny and if he wants a second chance, he needs to change his ways. That aside, if you want to discuss the baseball side of things, Bauer hasn’t really been an ace for some time, and hasn’t pitched for a long time. And he is a known ‘bad teammate’ and clubhouse problem. Hard pass.

Like I said I don’t know about his troubles with being abusive or being a bad teammate.  But free is free and doesn’t cost a thing.

[AceWrigley]

The addition of Trever Bauer the pitcher would reshape our pitching staff for the better. The addition of Trever Bauer the person requires some serious consideration. Twins GM Derek Falvey was part of the Guardians front office while Bauer pitched for them. I don't know what kind of relationship they had, but I imagine Falvey would be in a position to create a good decision making process concerning the signing of Bauer for the Twins, or pass.

[Squirrel]

7 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Like I said I don’t know about his troubles with being abusive or being a bad teammate.  But free is free and doesn’t cost a thing.

There would be a cost, though, and I’m not sure it’s a cost that should be paid without Bauer actively working on being a better teammate and a better human.

[AceWrigley]

18 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

. . . if you want to discuss the baseball side of things, Bauer hasn’t really been an ace for some time, and hasn’t pitched for a long time. And he is a known ‘bad teammate’ and clubhouse problem. Hard pass.

He was pretty darn good in 2021 before his suspension, starting 17 games with a 2.59 era and a whip about 1.00. That's pretty elite.

[Squirrel]

3 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

He was pretty darn good in 2021 before his suspension, starting 17 games with a 2.59 era and a whip about 1.00. That's pretty elite.

I thought I had read his numbers were going the other way. That is good. Still, hard pass.

[nicksaviking]

12 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Like I said I don’t know about his troubles with being abusive or being a bad teammate.  But free is free and doesn’t cost a thing.

It could cost you the clubhouse and it could cost you the fan base.

And could is probably closer to would.

[rwilfong86]

Would be a worse blow to team chemistry than Josh Donaldson was. Hard pass.

[Steve71]

Setting aside the issue as to whether we want his character on the Twins, just want to point out there is no "trade" required for him.  He was released.  If any team picks him up over the next 7 days (now 6), they have to pay his ginormous contract.  Zero chance that happens.

After that, he is a FA and can sign anywhere, and would be paid the league minimum of ~$700K and the Dodgers have to pay the rest of the contract, which expires this year.  If no one signs him, he still gets the Dodger's money.

So that is how it all works.  Whether we want him, and whether he wants us, are different issues.

[Brandon]

I think he knows he’s under the gun and would watch himself.  If not cut bait quickly.  Like Acewrigley said Falvey would know him from his time in Cleveland.  All I am saying is here is a way to get him for free.  
 

Can he recover publicly??? I don’t know but I think if he did lots of community involvement to improve his image or for atonement, was a good / quiet teammate and stay’s out of trouble he could be the ace we are clamoring for.

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

46 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

It could cost you the clubhouse and it could cost you the fan base.

And could is probably closer to would.

Some of the most expensive things in life are free of charge.

[Original_JB]

16 hours ago, Squirrel said:

 While I don’t condone cheating, Bauer’s violent and brutal behavior toward women 

Now, I don't like the guy either, but your off the cuff comment is painting with too wide a brush here. Factually, what do we know? 1 woman, 2 incidents, after which (in both cases) she stayed the night with him. Has there been any other "pattern" of abuse mentioned anywhere or anytime else? I guess I haven't seen it. And again, I don't want him and don't like what he did, but, there were no charges either. So, I try to not make what I call "pitchfork" comments like the above, because then they start to get quoted as "fact", when in actuality, we have no idea.

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, Original_JB said:

Now, I don't like the guy either, but your off the cuff comment is painting with too wide a brush here. Factually, what do we know? 1 woman, 2 incidents, after which (in both cases) she stayed the night with him. Has there been any other "pattern" of abuse mentioned anywhere or anytime else? I guess I haven't seen it. And again, I don't want him and don't like what he did, but, there were no charges either. So, I try to not make what I call "pitchfork" comments like the above, because then they start to get quoted as "fact", when in actuality, we have no idea.

There have been others who have come forward, indicating, yes, there is a pattern of abuse

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 1/7/2023 at 10:15 AM, DJL44 said:

Someone should sign him, but not the Twins. He would draw national attention for all the wrong reasons.

People can change, especially when met with public disapproval of their actions. 

People can definitely change but they have to want to change. There's no indication Trevor Bauer has changed or wants to change. He's still the same divisive guy he was three years ago.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

2 hours ago, Squirrel said:

There have been others who have come forward, indicating, yes, there is a pattern of abuse

This article does a good job with the courts part of Bauer’s story.

[Squirrel]

23 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

This article does a good job with the courts part of Bauer’s story.

That article confirms to me that there is a pattern not to be ignored, despite there only being one court proceeding

[chpettit19]

20 hours ago, Brandon said:

I think he knows he’s under the gun and would watch himself.  If not cut bait quickly.  Like Acewrigley said Falvey would know him from his time in Cleveland.  All I am saying is here is a way to get him for free.  
 

Can he recover publicly??? I don’t know but I think if he did lots of community involvement to improve his image or for atonement, was a good / quiet teammate and stay’s out of trouble he could be the ace we are clamoring for.

 

He's been "under the gun" for years, and hasn't changed 1 bit. He is who he is, and openly rejects the idea that he needs to change in any way, shape, or form. He wasn't liked on his college team, and wore out his welcome on numerous professional teams. Including the team that is now paying him tens of millions of dollars to go away because his teammates didn't want him back. If the Dodger's players don't want him in their clubhouse, why would another team think their players will?

He got off twitter for about a month after the most recent incident became public, but he's been back on there acting like his same old self for quite a while now. He will never be a "good/quiet teammate." It's just not who he is. So if that's something you think the team should be willing to "cut bait quickly" over then the team just shouldn't bring him in at all.