The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a deal with Trevor Bauer, the top free agent pitcher on the market.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman was the first to report the agreement, which Bauer confirmed shortly after with a video on his YouTube channel.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the contract is for three years and includes opt-outs after both Year 1 and Year 2. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports the contract is worth $102 million and includes a salary of $40 million in 2021, $45 million in 2022 before dipping to $17 million in 2023.
Bauer will be the highest-paid player in baseball this season and if he opts into Year 2 of the deal, is on track to be the highest-paid player that year, too.
Passan adds that the chances of Bauer staying in L.A. for the third year of the deal are minimal at this time and that the New York Mets offered him more money overall, but the money was more evenly spread out over the contract.
On Thursday, the Dodgers and New York Mets were reportedly the finalists for Bauer, who won the National League Cy Young Award last season with a league-best 1.73 ERA and 0.795 WHIP. With the Dodgers, he joins the reigning World Series champions and one of the deepest rotations in baseball alongside Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Julio Urias, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin.
The 30-year-old Bauer, who grew up near Los Angeles, returns home after spending the majority of his career in Ohio, first with Cleveland and later with Cincinnati. The 2020 season was by far the best of Bauer’s career, where he posted a career-high 12.3 K/9 and 5.88 K/BB to go along with his minuscule ERA and WHIP.
With Bauer off the board, the next wave of starting pitchers might soon follow as teams get closer to the opening of spring training. That wave of starting arms includes the likes of Jake Odorizzi, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, among others.
