The Mets need a quality starting pitcher and Trevor Bauer is clearly the best on the free agent market.
Enter new Mets’ owner Steve Cohen.
Not only are his pockets deep, but his goals are high as well. That has impressed many, including Bauer, and he expressed that during a YouTube video.
Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News talked to Bauer’s agent Rachel Luba about the possibility of playing in New York, “New York is… Well, he likes where the organization is going… It can definitely be a landing spot.”
Bauer, 29, is coming off a 2020 season in which he won the National League Cy Young Award with a league-best 1.73 ERA and 0.795 WHIP.
Luba realizes that Bauer has ruffled some feathers with his social media presence, “When you’re on that big of a stage, you’re bound to at some point have a hiccup or do something that can be taken the wrong way.”
Luba also believes that Bauer going from small markets in Cleveland and Cincinnati to a large market like New York won’t be an issue, “You have media — no matter how big or small the market is — saying what they want and being critical. It’s something he’s very used to.”
The Mets got a huge boost to their rotation when Marcus Stroman decided to accept their qualifying offer, but they still need at least one more starter to round it out. Right now, they have Jacob deGrom, Stroman, and David Peterson in the rotation. They look forward to Noah Syndergaard as well, but he’s still working his way back from Tommy John surgery that was performed in March.
Outside of those names, the Mets starting pitching depth is razor thin following the Brodie Van Waganen regime that traded many of their starting pitching prospects and let Zack Wheeler go to the Phillies.
Bauer could fill a major whole in the rotation and recent bullpen signee Trevor May said it best, “two Trevors are better than one.”
