North Shore Nine

The Pittsburgh Pirates are no stranger to employing players with questionable character. The team ignored the pleas of Ji Hwan Bae’s ex-girlfriend when she asked them to cut the Korean 2nd baseman found guilty of assault. The Pirates also came to terms with domestic violence abuser Aroldis Chapman on a one-year deal yesterday. The Pirates are not alone in this, as many teams have employed Chapman and Mike Clevinger has found work despite his Olivia Finestead’s testimony. It is no surprise that a popular talking point around Pirates circles is the idea of bringing back Trevor Bauer into Major League Baseball. He’ll be cheap, most if not all teams are treating him like the plague. He would be a “Moneyball” type of move trying to find market inefficiencies. However, there are many reasons why the Pirates should not try and resurrect Bauer’s career. I am not interested in getting bogged down in the facts of his sexual assault cases, because nothing I write is going to change your mind, one way or the other. If you think he’s innocent, you’ll still believe he is after reading, and if you think he’s guilty some blog post won’t change your mind there either. I think the issues involving sexual assault should steer the Pirates clear of Bauer, but I won’t be bothering trying to convince people to think otherwise. Instead, I am going to highlight the reasons why they should not employ Trevor Bauer besides the sexual assault issues.

Character Issues

Before being suspended from Major League Baseball, Trevor Bauer was a controversial character in his own right. If you asked Bauer himself, he would admit he can be an unlikeable person; with a quote himself that “I’m good at two things in this world, throwing baseballs and pissing people off.” These problems of making people angry are not a new phenomenon, it was the main catalyst for why the Diamondbacks traded Bauer to Cleveland a decade ago. Catcher and team leader at the time, Miguel Montero, spoke at the Diamondbacks fan fest in 2013 and this is what he had to say about Bauer as a teammate:

“When you get a guy like that, and he thinks he’s got everything figured out, it’s just tough to convince and try to get on the same page with you. …

“Since day one in Spring Training I caught him, and he killed me because he threw about 100 pitches the first day … the next time he threw I saw him doing the same thing. He never wanted to listen.

…

“He’s got his ways, and it’s tough to change it. Good luck to (Indians catcher) Carlos Santana there.”

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/d-backs-miguel-montero-has-strong-words-for-indians-trevor-bauer/

Trevor Bauer has his way of doing things and if you cross that path there will be major issues. Montero and Bauer’s relationship was so bad that he released a freestyle rap about it. Try and see how long you can make it through the rap without cringing. I made it 20 seconds. This does not bode well if you’re a team like the Pirates that needs good clubhouse chemistry, as well as a desire to have a good relationship between catchers and pitchers on the team. The Pirates have emphasized last off-season on having a winning culture in the clubhouse where everyone is on the same page. Trevor Bauer would come in and wreck it if things weren’t done the way he likes.

One can argue that this is one incident and that he’s grown from these experiences, which would be a fair observation. However, these problems continued into Cleveland, where his antics led to the Guardians citing his character issues in arbitration hearings. These problems also followed him to his last MLB stop in Los Angeles, where it is rather telling that reports surfaced that the rest of his Dodger teammates did not want to have Bauer as a teammate. Most of his teammates had no desire to see Bauer back after being suspended by the league in 2021. This insight lends itself to the idea that Bauer was not particularly liked in the Los Angeles clubhouse. Even if you want to argue that it’s good that Bauer wants to change the culture of the Pirates, even winning clubs like the Dodgers did not enjoy his presence. I bring all of this up to say that pretty much anywhere Bauer goes, there are issues and conflicts within the team. Whatever his personality is, it demands conflict wherever he goes. That is something the Pirates should avoid like the plague. Especially when Bauer isn’t talented enough anymore to justify these issues.

Bauer’s Talent Problem

Regardless of whether you think it’s fair or not, Bauer is not a pitcher worth investing significant (for the Pirates) money into anymore. You can tolerate character issues easier if the player is good, but Bauer is not at that level anymore. It is probably because he didn’t pitch professionally for 2 years, but that is not the Pirates’ problem. It’s very easy for us to try and close our eyes and remember Bauer’s Cy Young performances from 4 to 5 years ago. However, the Pirates tried hoping that magic would click with Miguel Andujar, and we all saw how that experiment worked out. Bauer’s success was also coming at the height of sticky stuff drama surrounding baseball. With umpires checking pitchers every half-inning, it’s safe to assume he would not have the same movement and spin on his pitches that he did back in 2021. We can also look at Trevor Bauer’s stint in Japan last season to illustrate that he isn’t guaranteed to be good again in the majors.

Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League is fairly similar to AAA baseball here in the States in terms of talent. Usually, a very select few players from this league are good enough to translate over to Major League Baseball. Before you get impressed by gaudy numbers, Pirates legend James Marvel had an ERA in the 2.30 range. Finding pitch metrics for this league is next to impossible, so instead we will be comparing Bauer to his counterparts. When you search up Bauer on YouTube, you will get lots of videos saying he dominated, and had a legendary year in the Nippon League. However, his stats line up almost identically with many pitchers who Pirates fans would never want to see don the black and gold.

You’ll notice that Bauer did not pitch the same amount of innings as a lot of people on this list. That’s because his stint in Japan started so poorly, that he was demoted to the Yokohama Baystars’ minor league team early in the season. He doesn’t get the strikeouts that Shota Imanaga got, who massacred hitters while putting up a similar ERA. He also doesn’t come close to the dominance you would want from Shoki Murakami. By most metrics, Bauer was an above average pitcher in Japan, but one has to question how well this would translate over to MLB level hitting. Do you want the Pirates to sign Aren Kuri? Iroi Yamasaki? Hiroto Takahasi? These are the names Bauer performed next to, and it is hard for me to believe that they would satiate the fans’ hunger for starting pitching. What metrics can we see that Bauer has returned to MLB dominance? Being the 10-15th best pitcher in a league that is similar to AAA does not lead to him being a guy the Pirates can’t afford to miss out on. There are better options that don’t come with the levels of baggage.

The Pirates need pitchers that are reliable and arms they can depend on to give the ball to every 5 days. As of writing this, they have one dependable starter who you can trust will perform well with Mitch Keller. Marco Gonzales is a pipe dream that he returns to 2022 form and his nerve damage doesn’t hold him back. Martin Perez is just plain awful. By hoisting our mast to Trevor Bauer, you are praying to whatever god you believe in that he is able to find his mojo from 3 years ago. Is that risk really worth the potential ticking time bomb Trevor Bauer brings to every clubhouse he enters? To invest money and roster space into Bauer you are banking on so many things to go right and not have it blow up in your face, when so many can easily go wrong. Considering this is the Pittsburgh Pirates, you already know things will most likely go wrong.