Trevor Bauer was baseball’s highest salaried player in 2022 at $45 million. Now he’s trying to secure an MLB job for the minimum.
Bauer, who served baseball’s longest domestic violence suspension (194 games), is offering to accept MLB’s lowest salary of $740,000 (plus incentives). But though “seven or eight” teams are still communicating with Bauer’s people, led by baseball agent/lawyer Jon Fetterolf, no one has signed him yet.
“This isn’t about the money,” Fetterolf said. “Really, what he’s looking for is only a chance and an opportunity.”
Fetterolf said Bauer — who has a standing offer to return to the Yokohama Bay Stars, for whom he went 10-4 with a 2.76 ERA and had no known issues — understands that any signing team would be taking “a PR hit,” which is behind this offer. And if anything goes awry, Fetterolf added, “You can get rid of him at the minimum.”
Bauer vehemently fought the accusations and original 324-game MLB ban, saying he’d done nothing wrong, and though the ban was reduced 130 games by an independent arbitrator, it remained the longest suspension under the domestic violence policy in MLB history. Now he is trying to rebuild his image.
It’s a mixed jobs record overall for players returning from such suspensions. But Bauer, who’s expressed remorse for the ordeal in recent interviews, may be hurt, too, by a previous reputation for arrogance. Many were able to resume MLB careers after serving suspensions, some have had to move their careers overseas.
“I really feel like he’s done everything he can possibly do,” Fetterolf said. “This isn’t a guy charged with a crime. Yes, he was suspended, but he served his suspension.”
Of course, Bauer is the extreme case, with the longest ban weighing against the talent of a former Cy Young winner — it’s a calculation of publicity vs. production. One team higher-up told me a year ago that to employ Bauer “you’d have to be from another planet.” More recently, a couple execs suggested he may need another year in Japan.
Yet, considering the desperation for pitching talent, it’s surprising to some no one’s taken him up on his offer yet.