Trevor Bauer has launched a self-promoting campaign guaranteeing he will sell himself to the highest bidder, no questions asked. Beware.
Trevor Bauer can’t get enough of himself, and unfortunately, it seems the Mets and Yankees can’t get enough of him.
If we believe the fodder fed to us on the back pages of New York newspapers and New York talk radio, a war of epic proportions is about to break out between the two (now equally funded) franchises to secure the services of Bauer for the next umpteen highly paid years.
Now, if you don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about, Trevor Bauer will be happy to take you by the hand with step-by-step and minute-by-minute updates from his ubiquitous Twitter feed, aptly titled @BauerOutage:
for all the status updates on my free agency!
To clarify, Rachel Luba knows a thing or two about self-promotion herself. A former gymnast turned boxer at UCLA, Luba’s newly minted website lists only one client and promises to “give players the value they deserve.”
This brings us to an interesting question. Benefitting from the luck of the draw in the watered-down Class of 2021 Free-Agent Starting Pitchers, what is the actual value of Trevor Bauer, and will that value equal what is expected to be a handsome payday?
Are you feeling a bit queasy yet? Need more from Trevor Bauer’s stash of ads – okay, here’s one posted two hours ago:
“Will I pick my free agency destination based on which fan base follows me most on Instagram? It’s definitely crossed my mind, and I have been known to do crazy things before”. Instagram.com/baueroutage
Trevor Bauer: Caveat Emptor In Spades
Look, Trevor Bauer is all about Trevor Bauer. Consider this: how do you see him fitting in with either Jacob deGrom or Gerrit Cole, both consummate professionals, as a teammate with either the Mets or Yankees.
We’re talking about a pitcher who lit it up for three months in a shortened season, who’s the same pitcher who can only claim a pedestrian 75-64, 3.90 ERA record over fifty-four months in his nine-year big league career.
Caveat Emptor – let the buyer beware.
Mets And Yankees: Look At The Whole Package
The argument is not if the Mets or Yankees do or don’t have a dire need for starting pitching. Of course, they both do.
But the team that signs Trevor Bauer is buying much more than a talented right arm, and it goes for any of the higher-tiered free agents in any year – it’s the whole package that counts more than any one thing.
Sure, it was nice for teams they played with to watch Manny Ramirez or Yoenis Cespedes hitting rockets all over the field. But as we know, there was more to it than that.
Too much more, to the point where both players became outliers on teams with players who took their status and desire to win seriously, amidst the ongoing distractions laid down by two Trevor Bauer-like egomaniacs.
Trevor Bauer: Take Your Act Anywhere But Here
Trevor Bauer, together with his agent Ms. Luba, is not stupid. As a pair, they will fan the flames whenever they can to foster a bidding war between the Yankees and Mets.
Recognizing this is their one chance to score big, the strategy is commonplace among free agents who see two rival teams in a constant battle for fans and media’s attention in the Big Apple.
Soon to be installed officially as the Met’s new owner, Steve Cohen is more susceptible to the lure of Trevor Bauer than Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner.
While Steinbrenner is tempered by a payroll that already exceeds this year’s luxury tax threshold, Cohen has $61 million to play with before the Mets approach the limit.
Moreover, Steve Cohen has a firm grasp of a hungry Mets fan base, and the subsequent need to satisfy their thirst for “something big” this offseason after the years of frugality and dysfunction with the Wilpons.
But again, is Trevor Bauer the person, not the pitcher, you want to hang around your clubhouse for the next five or six years, always armed with a Tweet and ready to talk to anyone he sees with a notebook or camera?
Caveat Emptor – that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
