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There were whispers last offseason about loose Giants interest in Gerrit Cole, and they’ve returned about this year’s top pitcher on the market.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman is linking Farhan Zaidi & Co. with Trevor Bauer, and not on a one-off, zillion-dollar deal, which would seem more in line with the president of baseball operation’s history. No, on his “Big Time Baseball” podcast, Heyman projects the eccentric star to sign with the Giants for five years and $150 million.
That would be one way to redirect funds that had been earmarked for Giancarlo Stanton and then Bryce Harper.
Bauer, 30 in January, is a Cy Young finalist after leading the majors with a 1.73 ERA with Cincinnati, from whom he rejected the qualifying offer. Wherever Bauer ends up — provided it isn’t the Reds — will need to cough up a draft pick and the many millions, the biggest question concerning the length of a pact.
Bauer had said he wanted to take one-year deals the rest of his career to maximize his value, though his agent recently said they would be considering all contracts this offseason. Perhaps he could seek a $35 or $40 million one-year deal, especially in a market that will be depressed because fans were not paying to be in parks during the 2020 campaign. That scenario seems more likely if the Giants want to be a match; Zaidi’s history has shown a preference for shorter-term deals for pitchers, especially those with some tread on their arms.
Bauer has pitched in nine major league seasons and totaled 1,190 innings, breaking out in 2018, when he was an All-Star and finished with a 2.21 ERA and 221 strikeouts in 175 1/3 innings. The analytically minded Bauer would fit in in an organization that has turned itself into a technological leader and boasts a deep staff of pitching minds.
Whether Bauer would fit in in San Francisco is more the curiosity, a polarizing personality whose knowledge is prized by teammates but whose outspokenness has turned him off to some fans, including an early 2019 incident in which he essentially sicced his Twitter following on a female college student.
The Giants would want to know Bauer is the right fit, but also for the right length; it is hard to envision Zaidi inking a deal with a star pitcher that would end when he’s 35. Though if Bauer is brought in and Kevin Gausman is kept, the Giants would begin looking like a threat to the Dodgers and Padres.