There have been plenty of jokes cracked this offseason, including some here, about where a Cardinals free-agent plan that publicly prioritized adding players who were hungry to play in St. Louis could lead.
Here’s one place you can bet it won’t wind up — with Trevor Bauer joining the Cardinals rotation on a bargain deal.
Being fired up about the idea of pitching for the Cardinals doesn’t, in fact, guarantee your chance to pitch for the Cardinals.
Bauer’s recent social media comments about his willingness to pitch for little pay combined with his comments about his interest in pitching for the Cardinals are highly unlikely to move the needle for the Cardinals.
While some Bauer fans are using social media to try to get Bauer on some team, any team, I’ve heard from some Cardinals fans who wonder about the idea of adding Bauer. They want an answer. Could it happen? Answer: Don’t bet on it.
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There seems to be a misconception that no one has or will ask the Cardinals about Bauer as a potential free-agent candidate. That’s incorrect, and that perception seems to be more of a case of people claiming questions are not asked if they don’t like the answers the questions receive. It happens often in our blame-the-media world. Especially when some in the media, it should be noted, were not as responsible as they should have been in the coverage of multiple sexual assault allegations made against Bauer.
I’ve asked about Bauer. Last season and this season. The Cardinals don’t sound interested. Again. And that’s the right call. Again.
Last offseason, after Bauer was paid a fortune by the Dodgers to depart and was cleared to play after his MLB suspension was reduced from 324 to 194 games, I wrote that the Cardinals were not interested in Bauer despite an obvious — and what turned out to be accurate — need for more starting pitching assistance. The Cardinals’ stance then was that their actions would do the talking, and their actions showed no interest in Bauer. This year’s update: Nothing’s changed.
The Cardinals once again like the rotation they have. I tend to agree with them more than last season on that, though I still wish they would blow the National League Central out of the water by bringing back Jordan Montgomery. Regardless, they’re not talking about adding Bauer. They don’t have plans to talk about adding Bauer. If three Cardinals starters showed up to spring training with arms that had fallen off during the drive to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, maybe the Cardinals would consider changing course on that front, but I doubt it because they don’t seem to have any interest in embracing Bauer’s baggage. Smart.
The Cardinals don’t comment publicly on free agents. They rarely make exceptions to that team rule. In a situation like this, you can see how saying nothing is the smart play. Why give Bauer a chance to say the Cardinals hurt his free agency by publicly shooting him down as an option? Why give Bauer a boost by saying the Cardinals would consider signing him? The Cardinals don’t want to be connected to Bauer. What other teams do is up to other teams.
As I wrote last year, it’s one thing to go to bat for Bauer on social media. It’s another thing to put him in your uniform. Some fans may love the idea, but others would hate it. Meanwhile, there are plenty of folks — I’d argue most — who have little interest in sorting out how they feel about a player who stirs conversations of where the line is between consensual sex and sexual assault every time he takes the mound. I’m not sure how this has become such a hard concept for some to grasp.
Bauer was never charged with a crime, and he has been reinstated by MLB. He also was the recipient of a 194-game suspension due to his violation of the league’s sexual assault and domestic abuse policy, one that was initially a 324-game suspension before an arbiter walked it back. Four publicly known women have accused Bauer of sexual assault.
I wouldn’t hire Bauer to pitch for my team if I owned one, and I would bet a bunch of the people trying to tweet Bauer back into the majors wouldn’t hire him to pitch for their team if they owned one either. I hear a lot about Bauer’s rights as an American. Starting for the Cardinals isn’t among them.
Bauer, 33, can still pitch, as proven in Japan last season, but he hasn’t done so in the majors since June of 2021. He would be a clubhouse question mark and a risk for potential distraction. A recent endorsement from the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts doesn’t change the fact the team ate $22.5 million to cut ties — or that of the four teams Bauer has pitched for in the majors, the clubs that know him best, none have brought him back despite his suggestions he’s willing to accept a contract that starts with a league-minimum guarantee and incentive-based increases. The Cardinals have stressed a need for improved clubhouse chemistry and better leadership. That’s not Bauer.
Maybe a team takes a shot on him because a previous Cy Young Award winner willing to pitch for little to avoid going back overseas is too tempting to pass up. There is probably a better chance of that this year compared with last year. But because folks have asked and because Bauer mentioned the Cardinals, don’t bet on him pitching for the Cardinals. Bauer and his supporters would be better off pursuing other teams.
In today’s 10 a.m. “Ten Hochman” video — brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center — Ben Hochman readies for his trip to cover spring training by discussing five Cardinals storylines that intrigue him. Also, a happy birthday shoutout to Todd Lyght! And as always, Hochman picks a random St. Louis Cards card!