No team has bit on Trevor Bauer’s return since he was banished from the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB. He has tried several ways to entice at least one Major League team to offer an opportunity, but so far he remains persona non grata.
With latest updates that Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is likely to miss all of the 2025 season due to a Tommy John surgery and pitcher Luis Gil being injured, Bauer gave it another go.
Need a Cy young starting pitcher for $0?
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) March 9, 2025
Bad News Yankees
Certainly the Yankees are going to have to find pitching from somewhere if they hope to repeat as American League champions or even compete in the very difficult American League East.
You don’t just lose 40% of your starters, including your best arm, and just maintain your position. Something has to be done. And it couldn’t come at a worse time. All the decent free agent starters have found homes already.
Marcus Stroman seems to be on the outside looking in as far as a spot in the Yankees starting rotation is viable again. Another veteran, Carlos Carrasco, is in camp along with rookie Will Waren, but that’s not close to what they’ve lost.
Former Cy Young winner is available
Bauer did indeed win a Cy Young, with Cincinnati in the shortened 2020-21 pandemic season, leading the league in both ERA (1.73) and WHIP (0.80) even if it was only 11 starts.
Bauer rolled right into 2021 with the Dodgers when his baseball world came crashing down. He was put on baseball’s restricted list and eventually suspended for violating the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
On December 22, 2022, the suspension was reduced from 324 to 194 games by independent arbitrator, Martin F. Scheinman. It’s still the longest handed down under the Joint Domestic Violence Policy, which was enacted in 2015.
Bauer was reinstated immediately, but has yet to throw another MLB pitch.
Back to Japan
As the disgraced right-hander continues to put his name out there for a return to the Majors, he has signed on for another season in Japan with the Yokohama Bay Stars. Bauer knows first hand that his Yankees quest will be rebuffed.
“Like the Diamondbacks – who told me I was ‘too expensive’ when I was asking for league minimum with no incentives. The truth is, these reasons aren’t the actual reason they can’t sign me,” he said.
So Bauer probably shouldn’t wait by the phone and the Yankees need to get back to work to find a couple of guys to fill their new big hole.
