On February 5th, Trevor Bauer shocked the baseball fans, especially Mets fans, after he released a video revealing that he would be signing with the 2020 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Bauer signed a 3 year, $102 million dollar contract with player options after his first and second year with the team.
The Positives
The Dodgers finally got more pitching. In last year’s World Series, we saw the Dodgers be forced to play bullpen games because of how thin their starting pitching was. Although they paid a hefty price, the Dodgers now have the reigning NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer to go with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, David Price, and Julio Urías. Without Bauer, the fifth man in this rotation would have been a big question mark. Bauer will also be a great influence for the plethora of young pitchers that the Dodgers have as his data-driven approach to pitching is what the future of baseball will look like.
Another positive, whether you believe it or not, is that Bauer is an all-star caliber pitcher. Although the back of Bauer’s baseball card may not be the most impressive, in recent years, Bauer has shown that he is one of the best pitchers in the MLB. Bauer had an impressive 2018, finishing 6th in Cy Young voting with a 2.21 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 5.8 fWAR, and a 30.8 K%, which put him in the 90th percentile of MLB pitchers. Bauer likely would have finished even higher in the Cy Young voting if it weren’t for injuries. He had an even better 2020, winning the NL Cy Young and finishing with a NL best 1.73 ERA and 0.79 WHIP as well as a 2.5 fWAR and 26 K%, putting him in the 95th percentile of all MLB pitchers.
The Negatives
One of the first things people will say about this signing is that Bauer has never really been a consistent pitcher. He has a career 3.90 ERA and 1.26 WHIP, which is decent, but not worth the $102 million dollars that he will be paid over 3 years. Many people will also point to Bauer’s disappointing 2019 season, where he posted a 4.48 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a 27.8 K%, putting him in the 77th percentile of MLB pitchers, and argue that it proves why this was a bad signing. In the eyes of many, the Dodgers overpaid for Bauer, and I would agree; however, the Dodgers really had no other choice. The team was desperate for starting pitching, and besides Bauer, there weren’t many other top tier starting pitchers left on the free agency market. The Dodgers are definitely taking a gamble with Bauer in the hopes that he will continue his trend of improving performance and become the number one or two guy on the staff. Obviously, Bauer won’t be able to repeat his 2020 season, especially because of how lucky he was (.215 BABIP and 2.88 FIP), but there is a very good chance Bauer will still put up some strong numbers in 2021.
Conclusion
Bauer will be extremely useful for a Dodger team that is looking to repeat this year as World Series Champions. They need their stars to step up, especially after losing some key players to free agency. As a fan of Trevor Bauer, and someone who has followed him for a long time, I believe Bauer is looking better than he ever has on the mound. With his recent Cy Young win, he will be going into the 2021 season with more confidence and motivation than ever. Don’t be surprised if Bauer puts up all-star numbers again in 2021.