In one of the biggest moves of the MLB offseason, reigning Cy NL Young Award winner Trevor Bauer announced that he’s signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. The announcement comes after the New York Mets were aggressively attempting to add Bauer to the their already talented starting rotation. Instead, he picked the reigning World Series champions — who also have a loaded rotation.
Bauer’s deal with the Dodgers is a three-year contract that will be worth $102 million. In addition, Bauer can opt out of the deal after the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Over the next two years, Bauer will make $40 million and $45 million, respectively.
He accumulated a 5-4 record to go along with a 1.73 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 73 innings during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The ace helped lead the Cincinnati Reds to their first postseason berth since 2013.
While the Dodgers ultimately ended up to be the destination for Bauer, his official website actually had a link to new Mets merchandise for the star pitcher about an hour before the announcement. There was also a signed Mets hat from Bauer listed as a giveaway on the site.
Those links and items were eventually deleted. Then, there was a signed Dodgers hat from Bauer listed as a giveaway.
So, as should come as no surprise, Mets fans had a lot to say concerning Bauer and his decision to sign with the Dodgers. After all, the team made a huge splash earlier this offseason when New York acquired All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor in a trade with the Cleveland Indians. The Mets front office was hoping to pair Bauer with the likes of Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco and Marcus Stroman.
Bauer’s agent, Rachel Luba, even had some parting words for Mets fans.
Here’s how the Mets fanbase reacted to the Bauer signing.
