For those who may have had concerns over how well 30-year-old oft-controversial right-hander Trevor Bauer would be received by his new Dodgers teammates, you can put your concerns to rest. In fact, you can put them in hibernation.
To the man, every Dodger player who has been interviewed during the first full week of Spring Training, even those who will eventually join him (or hope to join him) in the Dodgers ridiculously deep starting rotation, have had nothing but the highest praise for the defending National League Cy Young Award winner and first-round draft pick (third overall) in 2011 out of UCLA … including from a guy who has three Cy Young Awards of his own.
“I think for me personally, I’m just excited to talk to him about pitching,” said Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. “I’m excited to talk to him about different grips, different ways to get the most out of what you’re doing, and I think he’s going to make us all better.”
That’s some pretty high praise from a guy who will be in the Hall of Fame by the end of this decade.
Even one of the guys competing for a spot in the Dodgers starting rotation, and make no mistake about it, it is a competition, is glad to have Bauer onboard.
“I’ll be excited. It’s always fun adding a Cy Young winner into the rotation,” said 23-year-old Dodgers right-hander Dustin May, one of seven guys vying for five starting rotation spots. “But also, it puts more pressure on me to go out and get a spot that was kind of shortened. There’s a lot of guys for not many spots, so I gotta go out, and I gotta fight for it.”
The Bauer Effect.
As fans know, the Dodgers signed Bauer to a three-year/$102 million free-agent contract back on February 5, 2021. Fans also know that the North Hollywood, CA native, who grew up a Dodger fan, has some baggage; this due to his frequent and occasional controversial interactions on social media, the source of those aforementioned ‘concerns’ of Dodger fans.
That being said, and by every indication, the Dodgers, including President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, aren’t overly concerned about Bauer’s off-field social media activities.
“You know, we get as much information as we can on players, and, you know, there’s some stuff that’s more public with Trevor that definitely was something we wanted to dig into,” Friedman told reporters shortly after acquiring Bauer. “We had multiple conversations with Trevor; Stan (Kasten) and I talked to Trevor. And the most important thing is every teammate we talked to, all the feedback we got from every organization he was with, was not only incredibly positive in terms of the type of teammate he is, but also in terms of the impact he makes on each organization.”
The Bauer Effect.
Social media concerns notwithstanding, it’s hard not to be excited about ‘The Bauer Effect.’
Play Ball!
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@Dodgers Let’s hope he can string 10 wins early!⚾️⚾️⚾️
Hopefully, Roberts, Kershaw, Betts, Turner, Pollock, Price, et al will have a positive effect on Bauer who seemingly needs better role models than he has had in the past. Put away the social media trolling and become a leader by word and deed.
It’s a different time we live in, Bum. Nearly every MLB and MiLB player out there is on social media, including Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw, and even the great Vin Scully.
My point “Put away the social media trolling…” Social media is terrific, but IMO Bauer trolls, looking for someone to take the bait and engage in a needless, argumentative exchange.