According to Jon Heyman, Trevor Bauer is looking for a boatload of money from whichever team signs him. The 2020 Cy Young award winner wants a five to a six-year deal with a $36M to $40M annual average value. The outrageous asking price should make the New York Mets reconsider their plans on rebuilding their starting rotation.
Interested teams suggest Trevor Bauer seeks a 5- or 6-year deal for $36M to $40M (about $200M). Bauer is coming off a brilliant Cy Young season but the star market is slow. The record AAV is $36M by Bauer’s UCLA teammate Gerrit Cole. Agent Rachel Luba declines comment on talks.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 30, 2020
Bauer immediately quoted the tweet to say this was false information. This is more like damage control because the asking price would set a record and is getting clowned on for being way too much. Bauer deserves a large deal but does not deserve any record-setting offers. J.D. Martinez had a similar strategy during his time on the free-agent market
Move Forward Without Him
Steve Cohen has endless money to spend but signing Bauer to those terms is “spending like a drunken sailor.” Bauer is setting the bar high to make sure he gets overpaid by the time he officially signs a deal. This is a risky move because most owners are tight on money and could drastically hurt his deal. If Bauer’s price comes back down to the $25M-$30M range, signing him becomes a little more realistic.
Signing any combination of Jake Odorizzi, Masahiro Tanaka, or Tomoyuki Sugano would be a better way to spend the funds. Their production would equal or better Bauer’s over the course of a full season. All three pitchers would not be a significant downgrade either. Odorizzi and Tanaka are recent All-Stars, while Sugano is a two-time Sawamura Award (Japan’s Cy Young award) winner.
Bauer should remain the top pitching priority for the Mets at the moment. Bauer and Rachel Luba’s conversation are the factors in swaying the Mets vision, not a Jon Heyman tweet. If the conversations justify the tweet, the Mets cannot be afraid to let Bauer know they will look for starting pitching elsewhere.