Could 2020 Cy Young Award be the kind of player MLB is looking for?
They rebounded in their chosen sport of choice, Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s back and he’s healthy. Could 2020 Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer, 32, who has a reputation as a “bad boy,” be the kind of player Major League Baseball is looking for?
The Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball announced Bauer’s free agency on March 30. Nippon Professional Baseball teams submitted the list of pending players to the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) on the 30th of last month, and it was finally published on the 1st. Bauer is now a free agent and is free to sign with any other team, even overseas.
Bauer’s career peaked during the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season with the Cincinnati Reds, where he went 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA in 11 games (14 earned runs in 73 innings) and 100 strikeouts, winning the National League Cy Young Award. He then hit the jackpot, signing a three-year, $120 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the 2021 season.
However, Bauer’s career took a turn for the worse in June 2021, when he was accused of sexual assault and was the subject of a police investigation. The case was referred to prosecutors, but in February 2022, the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, Major League Baseball’s Office of the Commissioner failed to properly discipline Bauer, placing him on administrative leave, and in April, two months after the charges were dropped, the league suspended him for two years (324 games) for violating rules related to domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. However, Bauer appealed the suspension. 먹튀검증 After a seven-month investigation, the suspension was reduced to 194 games following mediation between the secretariat and the players’ union.
Still, Bauer remained a “headache.
He sued a woman for defamation over sexual assault allegations, and the woman sued him back, resulting in a lengthy court battle. In the end, the Dodgers didn’t part ways with Bauer, even though his suspension was reduced. They tried to trade Bauer, but no team wanted him. Despite still owing him a salary, the Dodgers took on the financial burden and cut ties with the “problem child.
Bauer continued to be ignored by major league teams. Instead, he turned his attention to Nippon Professional Baseball and signed a short-term, one-year, $3 million contract with Yokohama. Bauer’s first appearance with the first team in May confirmed that he was still going strong. He struggled for a bit and retooled in the second team, but finished with a 10-4 record and a 2.76 ERA in 19 games and 130⅔ innings. On August 30 against the Hanshin Tigers, he was diagnosed with a right iliopsoas injury after falling while trying to catch a ground ball and run to first base.
Yokohama finished third in the Central League with a record of 74 wins, 66 losses, and three ties, advancing to the first stage of the Climax Series, but lost two games to league runner-up Hiroshima to end fall baseball. Bauer also had to end the season without returning to the field. His August 30 start, when he was injured, will likely be his last in Japan.
Now that he’s a free agent, Bauer has a strong desire to return to the major leagues, but Yokohama still wants to keep the door open.
“We will continue to hold talks with Bauer,” according to Sporunichi Annex. For Bauer, this winter could be the right time to return to the major leagues. In early November, John Heyman of the New York Post wrote on social media, “Bauer’s agent has been meeting with teams in hopes that Bauer can return to the majors. His fastball was averaging a mile (1.61 kilometers) faster and topped out at 99.3 mph (about 159.8 kilometers).
According to baseballdata.jp, a statistical recorder of Japanese professional baseball data, Bauer’s fastball averaged 153 kilometers this year. And in 2021, Bauer’s final season in the major leagues, his fastball averaged 93.9 miles (151.1 kilometers). Despite the difference in decimals, Bauer’s velocity was more powerful in Japan.
The free-agent market is in Bauer’s favor,
As he has proven himself to be a healthy, albeit rambunctious, pitcher. Aside from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a pitcher who has dominated the Japanese scene and is challenging for the United States, and Blake Snell, who went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 32 games this year and won the National League Cy Young Award, there are no “S” players. Shohei Ohtani is a two-way player, but elbow surgery prevents him from pitching immediately next year, and starter Aaron Nola, who went 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA this year and 90 career wins, signed a seven-year, $172 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Sonny Gray, who is 98-85 with a 3.47 ERA in 279 career games, signed a three-year, $75 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. Luis Severino, 메이저 토토사이트 who won 54 games in his career but has struggled recently with an elbow injury and is just 4-8 with a 6.65 ERA in 19 starts this year, signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the New York Mets. The starting free agent market has been inflationary this winter. While his off-field behavior is hard to control, Bauer’s performance on the mound is unmistakable. In 222 career games, Bauer has an 83-69 record with a 3.79 ERA. He’s even played in Nippon Professional Baseball. He still has about 50 games of suspension to serve before he can take the mound again. But with a starting pitching famine in free agency, it’s hard to imagine major league teams passing up a proven player like Bauer.