Getty Image
Trevor Bauer’s quest to find his way back onto a Major League Baseball roster is not going according to plan.
Bauer, of course, was a Cy Young Award winner for the Cincinnati Reds in 2020.
But just four years later, he’s reached a new low after inking a deal with Japanese pay-to-play travel team Asian Breeze.
【2024 #アジアンブリーズ 電撃参戦】トレバー・バウアー選手
アジアンブリーズでは、2024年3月10日のロサンゼルス・ドジャース戦にて、トレバー・バウアー選手(@BauerOutage)が電撃参戦することが決まりましたので、お知らせ致します。#海外野球https://t.co/Dhy3pOFgIJ
— ASIAN BREEZE / アジアンブリーズ 🌪️ (@breeze_asian) March 7, 2024
Bauer will pitch for the team, which describes itself as providing “opportunities for baseball players, from children to young people, who will create the next generation of Japanese baseball players, to think and act on their own through overseas challenges, and to develop ‘independence’ to grow themselves,” against a group of Los Angeles Dodgers minor league players in a Spring Training game on Sunday.
Despite being a Japanese organization, the team does not play in Japn.
Instead, it is based in Phoenix. Bauer will play games with MLB-affiliated teams and aim for a professional contract, according to the team.
How did we get here?
Well, Bauer signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 2021 season. But a sexual assault case and subsequent MLB suspension derailed his once-promising career.
He was never criminally charged, but the suspension put a halt to his MLB career.
Bauer signed for the Yokohama Bay Stars of Japan’s Nippon Pro Baseball League. He went 11-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 24 stars over two seasons in Japan.
But that wasn’t enough to convince Major League teams to deal with his off-field problems, which allegedly extend into the locker room.
Most recently, Bauer took to Twitter with a plea to MLB teams.
Blake Snell is going to get hundreds of millions of dollars on a multi year deal. And he should. He deserves it. For a team that doesn’t want to commit multi years, hundreds of millions of dollars, or many elite prospects for a Cy young award winner, they could sign me for league… https://t.co/OA1Xu7uHAT
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) February 7, 2024
“Blake Snell is going to get hundreds of millions of dollars on a multi year deal. And he should,” he wrote.
“He deserves it. For a team that doesn’t want to commit multi years, hundreds of millions of dollars, or many elite prospects for a Cy young award winner, they could sign me for league minimum and pay 0 incremental dollars over what they have to pay to that roster spot anyway. Just another option for teams that want to win and don’t want to break the bank.”
Turns out that didn’t work.
Better luck next time, Trevor!