When a top-level pitcher for a team aiming for the playoffs in 2024 gets injured, it's expected. There's an available ace pitcher who has not had a big-league start in a while, but he has some issues. The Cubs are the team with the injured ace, and the problematic starter on the market is former star Trevor Bauer. Cubs are the team with the injured ace, and the problematic starter on the market is former star Trevor Bauer. Dodgers star Trevor Bauer.
But, as soon as the possibility is raised, it’s being rejected. The Cubs placed Justin Steele on the 15-day injured list with a hamstring injury, and are moving forward with their current pitchers, avoiding the instability that would come with a Bauer signing.
Rookie Ben Brown has been called up with a possible start looming this time through the rotation.
At the “Locked on Cubs” podcast, host Sam Olbur raised the possibility of adding Bauer, who has not pitched in the big leagues since mid-2021.
“The Trevor Bauer thing, it’s not a baseball thing,” Olbur said. “There’s stuff about the story that none of us know. So that’s my biggest question. What about Bauer, what about Bauer? It’s almost like I gotta put my law degree in place, that doesn’t exist.”
Co-host Matt Cozzi chimed in: “They’re gonna be internal on this, I would guess.”
Trevor Bauer’s Assault Accusation Still Lingers
As a pitcher, Bauer makes a heap of sense for the Cubs, without Steele and Jameson Taillon (back). He is a hard-throwing righty who was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 2021 with the Dodgers, who had signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract that spring.
Before that, Bauer had been sixth in Cy Young Award voting in 2018, when he went 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA for Cleveland. He won the award with the Reds in 2020, going 5-4 with a league-best 1.73 ERA. For his career, he is 83-69 with a 3.9 ERA and 1,416 strikeouts in 1,297 innings. But that’s not all that is involved with Bauer, of course.
Bauer is 33 years old and had a sterling career until he was accused of sexual assault at his home in Pasadena during the 2021 season. The accusation got worse when photos of the alleged victim, Lindsey Hill, came to light. The photos showed she had been beaten up.
At the time, Hill presented hospital records that, according to the Los Angeles Times, “said she had been diagnosed with ‘acute head injury’ and ‘assault by manual strangulation’ in the wake of a sexual encounter.” Bauer was suspended, and was reinstated by MLB last year after a 194-game ban.
Cubs Criticized for Not Adding More Pitching
Bauer was never charged with any crime. Still, no team has been willing to sign him, despite his talent, the lack of persisting legal entanglement and his extremely low cost — Bauer said he’d be willing to pitch for a minimum contract.
But the Cubs, like the other 29 teams in baseball, have been unwilling to take the public relations hit that would come with signing Bauer. Unable to get a deal with a major-league club last year, he instead pitched in Japan, where he went 11-4 with a 2.59 earned run average in 24 games.
Apart from Bauer, the Cubs are facing criticism for not making more efforts this offseason to strengthen their pitching depth. There were frequent rumors about them pursuing left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery, but they didn't attempt to acquire him. They also could have signed the reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to a reasonable contract.
On the “Cubs ReKap Podcast,” MLB analyst Gordon Wittenmyer criticized the team for not pursuing either pitcher. Snell joined the Giants and Montgomery signed with the Diamondbacks on a reasonable one-year, $25 million contract.
“You had Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell available for nearly the entire Spring Training when you saw some of these developments,” Wittenmyer commented. “Both those guys were still available when Taillon got injured.
“The way the Cubs entered the season reminds me of how I'm doing this podcast—they’re not wearing any pants. These guys went into this year unprepared. They had the opportunity to be better prepared and dominate this division.”
