Trevor Bauer signs with the Dodgers
Being a sports fan in New York in the last few years or even a decade must be very tasking to patience unless you are a Brooklyn Nets fan, and you just cannot believe your luck in landing three of the top superstars in the NBA today. Well, happy Nets fans, miserably everyone else, including baseball fans. The New York Mets were sure they all but had Cy Young winner, Trevor Bauer, signing with them in free agency before an unexpected and utterly blindsiding turn of events saw the best pitcher on the free agency board sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers instead. Los Angeles seems to be the happening hub for superstars now, and Bauer will be the next to enrich a Dodgers’ roster that is already touted to be the best in baseball, ever. The news has been greeted with mixed feelings across the league, fan circles, and pundits and is sure to have sent punters consulting their betting guides for every Dodgers game and how to make good on what could be a dominant season for the defending champions.
The third pick in the 2011 draft, Bauer was selected by the Diamondbacks, making his debut against a year later in 2012, before being traded to Cleveland in 2012 during the offseason. A former Golden Spikes Award and National Pitcher of the Year Award winner, Bauer was already one to watch at UCLA, setting many records in his junior year before making the draft class of 2011. As a member of the Diamondbacks, Bauer was not as impressive as his college days had promised but did show glimpses and, in what seems now a very interesting tale, got his first-ever major league win as a pitcher against none other than the Dodgers, on July 8, 2012. However, he would be sent to the Triple-A Reno Aces before being traded to Cleveland in December. Bauer’s growth will continue in Cleveland, although his personal life would significantly affect his time there. A drone incident at his home would cost him a starting spot in the postseason in 2016, before a display of frustration 2019 against the Kansas City Royals will all but seal his fate with the team. During the 2019 offseason, Bauer will be traded by Cleveland to the Cincinnati Reds, where e would make his mark as one of the league’s top pitchers and winning the Cy Young award in 2020.
After an offseason where Bauer teased going to the Mets, he finally signed with the Dodgers, inking a 3-year, $102m deal that will make him the highest-paid player in the league in 2021 and again in 2022. The contract also provides for opt-outs for the first two years.
